No More Heroes
by Richard Fern the Dragonmaster
Summary: Richardson Tennyson is the last of the known Tennyson and the Omnitrix heir. But there's no Omnitrix for him to wear! Just how he going to live his life in a war-battered world that desperately need a hero? is he really normal? Can he fulfill his legacy?
1. Chapter 1

_This is Ben 10 Fanfiction without any of the original characters and some minor crossover here and there._

_A/N: Dark: Most of the characters here are OC.  
Light: nothing, for now._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is copyrighted on this story. But I owned the creative and innovative plot of this story, though._

_**Chapter1**_

Long before the pact between human and the alien was made, the legendary device creator, create a device that could be used to help the warring species understand each other.

The device was named as the "Omnitrix", means "All Form". It was created to provide a better understanding, but it was misused for weapon due to the incredible potential that some species.

The creator sent his creation away to the far away galaxy, where a small solar system, consist of nine planet and one sun was situated. But unfortunately, the fleet that carry that device was attacked by the most feared Warlord of the universe.

The Omnitrix was quickly ejected into the small planet called Earth, where a mere child found it. Many people would say: it was ironic; the most powerful device in the universe is fallen to the hand of primitive earthling snot-nosed child.

Well, the child does use the Omnitrix to open cans and break rocks sometimes and he also almost literally rip the universe apart by setting off the Self-Destruct Mode on the Omnitrix just because he didn't want to listen to his Grandfather advice.

The child however, uses the Omnitrix mostly for good deed. Even the creator agreed to leave his creation on the child's care. The child grew up into the world greatest hero. He unlocked the ten thousand forms of any known aliens in the universe and unlocked the device fullest potential. He may use the Omnitrix a litter carelessly when he was a child, but he was ready to pay for his mistake when he becomes the world greatest hero.

But later, he became worried about what's going to happen after his death. He asked the same question over and over again: who's going to take his place when he died?

He found his answer when his son turns ten of age. He made an exact replica of the old Omnitrix that's now attached to his own wrist. His offspring proved himself as a great hero that's perhaps a shade greater than his own father.

This becomes a tradition of the family. Each time the eldest child in the family turns ten, he would receive the replica of the Omnitrix. The original Omnitrix itself was lost when its original wielder died.

The seemingly frail line of heroes continued for centuries. Even the current Omnitrix bearer had admitted about the fragility of the line. The united government developed a special breed. The new breed would have the appearance of human being, but with inhuman capabilities that would substitute the Omnitirx's line when the line would be ceased. The Omnitrix's DNA bank was used in this project with the approval of its current wielder.

The project created hundreds of prototype, each with different power from one another. From these entire range prototypes, only ten was allowed to be perfected and would later be released into the societies around the world.

But, a year after the perfection of the project was started, the current Omnitrix's wielder died, before he fitted a new Omnitrix into his son. The world was thrown into mourning for three full years.

The orphaned boy grew into a seemingly perfectly normal child. But for some reason, the Elders of the Order of Galliray were afraid to look at the boy's eyes and they never tell any soul about what they saw in those seemingly normal green eyes.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Security Breach! Armed everyone!" a man in a silvery uniform shouted to top the screaming alarm, "The Prototypes' Bridge is under attack!"

A sound of muffled explosion echoed through the grim underground facility. The Vulpimancer (Wildmutt) squad was sent to hunt the intruder. As the best hunter on the universe, they're certain that nothing is going to escape their keen sense of smell.

Vulpimancer are a race of alien that looked like a cross between a gorilla and a lion. They didn't have any eyes and relies on their sense of smell, hearing, and heat detecting to 'see'. They had powerful gorilla arms and lanky, but powerful feline hind legs. Their body setups allow them to jump and run at a fairly high speed and made them fairly strong. The adult Vulpimancers had tails and stripes with longer fangs on both upper and lower jaw while the younger ones have wider, duller fangs jutting out along side their teeth on their lower jaw and lacked of tail and stripes. Vulpimancers' smallest size was as big as 10 years old human children and they could grow into several times human's size.

The huge brown, furry creatures powered up their feline's hind leg and powerful gorillas'-like arms to smash the remaining wall that hold them from the massive room full of glass tubes. They're ordered not to damage any of the tube at any condition.

They held their eyeless head high and stretch their neck. At the same time, the gill-like slits on their throat flared to receive any faint scent and heat originated from any living being.

What they saw was green silhouettes that represent living and moving being against black background. Each tube had one green human-shaped silhouette so they ignored them. Their blind head constantly hitting some pipe as they awkwardly tried to walk on their hind leg.

Suddenly, a young Vulpimancer, a newly recruited member of the squad, and young because his tail hadn't grow yet, jerked his head to one direction and snarled loudly to warn his comrade, but it was too late. The next thing he knows of was a sea of dead bodies while his right supported an open bleeding gash and the tubes was ejected from the facility.

The shocked Vulpimancer touched one of his comrades' bodies. Guilt and horror filled his mind as his shaking hands started to drag them away from the spot where they meet their death. Suddenly, the promise of honour in the military didn't seem to be appealing anymore.

Before the reinforcement arrived, he had left the facility. Looking for a better place for him and a place where he could be finally free from his guilt and horror.

But the damage caused by the intruder was fatal. The prototypes of special being were sent all over the world therefore, it would be impossible to retrieve them back because once the prototype is activated; the only thing to deactivate them was to kill them.

And the prototype, no matter how artificially made, was still a sentient being that posses a soul and a mind. With this, the law of humanity protect them all.

The prototypes however, pose a severe danger if their power was used in the wrong way because most of the ejected prototypes are declared as dangerous due to their over-the-limit power and prowess.

This was going to take some people with the gut to sort the problem out.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A young Vulpimancer paced miserably through the hot sun ray. The desert heat battered him mercilessly and stings his wound, which was started to opened again. His limbs were aching and sore due to days of walking. His shoulder armour plates and graves were worn out and rusted.

He scratched the ground using his black claws, hopelessly trying to find some moisture on the dry ground. He grunted in disappointment as his tongue tasted sand. Trying to dig deeper, but his arms were too sore for that.

He collapsed to the ground. The slits on either side of his neck flared and closed as he frantically tried to smell some water from beneath the ground. His species had adapted for their poisonous home world, but earth desert were not poisonous, it was burning.

He had thought that humans are weaker than his species due to the fact they needed a special equipment to survive on their planet.

But he was wrong, human were a tough species, tougher than he thought they were.

His consciousness was rapidly failing him. But just right before he lost consciousness was gone, his thermograph sense picked a group of living being moving towards him before his thermograph sensor went out.

He fell asleep for what he felt as an eternity. His senses come into an absolute stop and for the first time on his life, he felt lonely and afraid.

The young Vulpimancer woke up and found himself in a comfortable bed. His senses regained their usual keenness and started to feed him with silhouettes and directions.

He tried to get up from the bed but a pair of soft hand palm stops him from doing so.

"Don't move, you're going to open your wound again," a female voice said softly as she pushed him back to the bed. He growled to her, the senses only showed a silhouette of a long haired teenage girl.

"I've changed your shoulder plate and greaves, too. It's rusted and unsuitable to wear," she continued.

He touched the bandage that covered his wound on his right arm. The quills on his right hand didn't put any input to his brain, no doubt because of the bandage that seals them from the air.

He growled and decided to tear the bandages off from him. If there's some thing that Vulpimancers does not like beside foul smell and loud sounds was having his senses blocked out.

But before his hand could even reach it, the girl caught his hand to prevent him from tearing her handiwork.

"You can't do that! Your arm need it to heal," she said softly, "please, you had to..."

The Vulpimancer does not care anymore; he let a roar of frustration and flared his thermograph slits to show his frustration. He tried to slash the girl with his left arm but he failed to do so.

He let an angry loose roar that would make an adult crawl back to their bed with teddy bear and sucking their thumb, but the girl didn't flinch. If he had eyes right now, he would have stared at her with confusion.

"I understand that you don't like to have your senses blocked, but your wound is more important than that..." her voice trailed off. Through his thermographs sense, the young Vulpimancer could 'see' that she was wiping something from her eyes, "it's jut for a while, okay?"

He growled impatiently, but he obeyed her to lie back on the bed and before thirty minute passed, he's already asleep.

His wound took a whole week to heal and during those times, his instinct keep telling him to tore the bandage and run. Luckily, Vulpimancer wasn't a species of wild animal, they're a sentient being with a shape of wild animal. He had a conscience that stopping him from obeying his instinct.

After his wound healed perfectly, his carer fitted something on his left wrist and started working on it. He tried to stay still as the girl worked on the device on his left arm.

"...I thought that you're going to need this, so I fitted it to you," she said as she worked with the device, "your current body isn't designed to withstand the desert, this device is a pale comparison to the Omnitrix..."

The young Vulpimancer snorted in disbelief when the word 'Omnitrix'. The Omnitrix was the greatest device in the universe and only a hand full of people know how to make it.

"...My stepfather is a Galvan (Grey Matter), and before he died, he gives me the schematic of this device," the girl said, "it's only enough to contain one DNA, but it don't have a time limit."

The Vulpimancer grunted questioningly to her as he scratched the back of his head using his hind leg.

"It's done, you want to try?" the girl asked.

He only nodded in reply. She made a final adjustment before she activated the device.

The device made a clicking sound when it was activated. It turned his life upside-down.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Bellwood, United States of America

Bellwood often nicknamed as 'The Home of Ben Ten Thousand'. Benjamin Tennyson, the first Omnitrix bearer and Gwendolyn Tennyson, Benjamin cousin and partner graves was located at a special graveyard that only high-ranking people from Bellwood may rest there.

Each year, there was a celebration to remember the day Benjamin Tennyson acquired the Omnitrix. There was also a celebration to celebrate the awakening of Gwendolyn Tennyson magical power. Everyone in Bellwood celebrated these two holidays with a great deal of celebration, except for one particular person who seemed to detest these two celebrations.

Each time other people went into the fair, this person grew more depressed and sad. This young person was supposed to be an Omnitrix bearer, before his fate was taken away from him in a faithful battle that took Kyle Tennyson life away.

Now Richardson Tennyson was just an ordinary person with an attitude problem. Unlike other teens, which preferred to learn the art of sharpshooting, he preferred to learn how to use swords and grew in to born strategist that could turn several disadvantages in to a great advantage. He could also tell what his enemy weaknesses are by just looking on how they move and stand.

He attends a school where the art of fighting was a compulsory subject. There are three branch of the subject: bare hand fight, sharpshooting, and melee weapons. The subjects become compulsory after the threat of war from the Ectonurite (Ghostfreak) Warlord. The Warlord had three species from the Anur solar system under his command and ready for an all out war on the United Government. No weapon could hurt an Ectonurite, the only hope of defeating the Ectonurite army lies on sunlight.

The only weapon that they could put a hope at was an ancient type gun called Gun del Sol, or Solar Gun. The gun, in theory, fire bullets of solidified sunray that could injure, and with any luck, kills an Ectonurite. The only problem was, nobody in the living memory could ever squeeze a single shot out of it.

Richardson watched as the war happened day by day after his father died. The war died down after four years of fighting and hadn't shown any sign of continuing...yet.

But Richard, as he usually called, turned a blind eye to the war. He couldn't care less about the war that could ruin the universe once and for all. If he wears the Omnitrix, his attitude towards the war would've been different.

He becomes an excluded person. Rarely anyone wanted to have any thing to do with him, least to be his friend. His only friend was an alien from a resented species.

The only thing he cared about was he and his only friend wellbeing. He does not care to what happened to anybody else.

"I didn't have the power to stop this war from happening. If the universe is going down, so be it," he once said, "they could plead as much as they like, but really, I. Don't. Care."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Matt, wait for me!" a girl with long-dark hair panted. Her companion only shook his head as she clutched her side, "you're running too fast."

The said Matt only shakes his head as he helped the girl to stand properly. He led her to a bench on the park, "I don't know what make me take you from your home, Ellie, but I do know one thing: you never travelled far before."

"Sorry, I never thought that I would be a nuisance to you...," Ellie said sadly, "I thought..."

Before Ellie could finish her sentence however, Matt put his hand on Ellie lips, "I see that one coming," he stared directly to Ellie blue eyes with his sharp brown eyes with a piercing glare that would send anybody else twitching.

"I'm going to change," he said as coarse brown fur started to creep on his hand and his leg started to twist in to a feline leg while his arm grew more powerful and quills started to sprout from the back of his neck and forearms.

The furs grew until in covered his eyes completely. His neck lengthened and slits appeared on either side of his lengthened throat while more quills sprouted on his back, neck and chin. His lips turned pitch-black colour and his bottom row of teeth grew bigger and tow of it turned to wide, dull fang.

"Matt! I've told you not to transform in public!"

The Vulpimancer ignored Ellie's angry outburst and motioned her to ride on his back. Ellie sighed and obeyed him.

"I know you didn't like your human form, Matt, but can you please don't change in front of public," Ellie scolded as Matt made his way from the park.

Matt only snarled impatiently as he made a huge leap which almost made Ellie slipped. Ellie grabbed his underdeveloped spines to prevent her from falling, if she did that on an adult Vulpimancer's spines, her hand would be pierced.

Matt made his final jump to the roof an apartment before he settled to let Ellie slid down from his back before he changed back into his human form. He ran his hand through his brown hair before he sat besides Ellie who had taken out a map.

"This town is called Bellwood, home of heroes," she said as she traced her delicate hand through the map, "I wonder if we could meet the Tennyson family."

"... I wouldn't want to meet him if I were you," Matt said disdainfully, "the last of the Tennyson is just a selfish jerk that doesn't care for anybody else."

"How could you say that?"

"I've met him before, three weeks after his father died," Matt opened a water bottle and take a gulp or two from it, "he's no more than a teenaged boy with an attitude problem now. I couldn't imagine how selfish he grown over the years."

Ellie fall silence for a quite some time before she closes her map and rested her head on Matt's shoulder.

"I'm taking a rest before we continue walking, okay?" she said as she closed her eyes to sleep.

"You could at least not put your head on my shoulder," Matt growled disapprovingly, but Ellie didn't answer him. She's fast asleep and holding into him tightly, a bunch of habits that Matt clearly despises: she's a deep sleeper and her hand always grabbed at something when she's asleep.

It's been three weeks since he acquired his human form, but it's still feel strange to him. Before he turned in to a human by the device that Ellie attaches, he had never seen the world through the organ called 'eyes'. It was a weak comparison to his senses, but somehow, he enjoyed it. He could see now that the world around him was a very beautiful place, although he still despises the lack of keen smell, touch and hearing senses, he started to enjoy the life as a human.

But he couldn't completely banish the part of him as a Vulpimancer, some part of him still longing for his old life as a blind mutt-like alien. He told himself over and over again about this: I could not live on earth society as a blind mutt.

Strangely, although he was physically a human, his body control as Vulpimancer remained the same. He could jump as high as four meter without putting any real effort and if he runs on all four, he could easily top a speeding camel even his feline reflexes stayed the same.

He's now a human with Vulpimancer's abilities and mind, not more, not less. He looks human, but he thinks like a Vulpimancer, a species that heavily relied on instinct to live rather than his intelligent. That would be a problem if he wanted to blend with humans without causing any suspicion.

Matt tried to pry Ellie finger, one by one and very carefully, because he saw that her fingers were so frail-looking, but look could be deceiving. As soon as her first hand come off, both of her hand shot up and grab hold of his whole body while muttering 'don't leave,' in her sleep.

Matt growled impatiently, "this gonna take some time..."

XXXXXXXXX

Richardson Tennyson was an attractive kind of person for a fifteen years old teenager. If somebody that looked at him didn't count on his ruthless and icy glare they would see that he was most girl dream man. He was quite tall and athletic, black hair that come all the way to his back, sharp green eyes and other handsome features that seemed to be carefully chiselled from the best quality material by a prodigy artisan.

The only thing that drives people away from him was his cold attitude toward anybody except for best friend: Victor Valiant, a fifteen years Transylian.

His friend however, was his exact opposite. As a Transylian (Benvictor), he support a Frankenstein-like appearances: tall and bulk body with different coloured skin on some section, giving the impression he was sewn together from different parts, and three luminescent orb-like objects on his chest. He also has shoulder-length black hair and two thick generator rods sticking out on his back. He also wore a pair of heavy iron boots and glove and usually seen only in his black long trouser.

Now, Victor may have a scary and terrifying appearance, but his heart was made out of gold. He would help anybody that needed his help. But he was discriminated because his species was under a total control of the Ectonurite Warlord.

Well, almost under total control. Victor was the one and only Transylian that still defied the Ectonurite Warlord. He was still dreaming about the freedom of his species so he could show his best friend what his home planet looks like.

At lunchtime in their school, right after a Sparring Match between Richard and Shard, which Victor completely missed because he needed to run a favour from the principal. Victor was already saved a place for his best pal when the one he waited for crashed heavily on the table, face first.

"Hey, are you alright, man?" Victor tried in panic to make his fifteen years old fried sat properly only to have the said person crashed backward from his seat, "hey, don't fall on me now! Wake up!"

Victor opened Richard long trench coat to found that his back was bleeding profusely. He didn't notice this earlier because the long trench coat he wear was preventing the blood from being seen. Victor also found some more sharp crystal shard on the edge of the wound.

"Did you go against Ladrax on the Sparring Match?" Victor asked as he hauled the bleeding frame of his mate to his shoulder as he found more crystal shard on his body. His oversized iron gloves really come in handy if you need to lift thing like this one.

Richard shooks his head weakly as Victor took the crystal one by one. The only thing that Victor despises from his best friend was he always lied about his injuries to keep anybody else from worrying about his health.

This was the third time he made an appearance with blood all over the place. First, he was wounded from something that suspiciously looks like a burn, the second time, he was bleeding from what apparently a vicious bite, this time, he showed up with crystal everywhere.

Victor waste no time to take him to the infirmary. Richard groaned a complain and told him he was all right and there was no need for any immediate medical attention.

Victor could hardly believe his ear when Richard mouth said that, "no need? NO NEED? You little sword-wielding psycho! Do you know how much blood you lose?'

"It's just... a bit... of scratches... okay?"

"A bit of scratches? A BIT OF SCRACTHES?" Victor yell could almost be heard on the next state, "are you nuts?"

The school nurse was a student handpicked by the school principal each year. The current school nurse was a girl named Lilia, Richard's and Victor's childhood friend. Everybody knows that her knowledge about wound and injuries were second to none amongst the students. But for some unknown reason, Richard's body seemed to freeze when he saw her.

Lilia seemed to always avoid an eye contact with Richard, too. It was usual for everyone to avoid his eyes because of his ruthless and icy glare, but it was a bit unusual for them to act so timid and shy towards him.

"Victor, what are...!" and she fainted when she saw a blood-covered Richard. Although she was a school nurse, she had a fear of blood and often fainted when she's tending injuries.

"See... what... I... meant?" Richard breathed heavily, "I... know... this... would... happen... if... I... come... here... in... this kind... of... state."

Thirty minute later...

Lilia's handiwork managed to stop the bleeding. She also managed to take the remaining crystal shard from the wound. She made sure that there was no more crystal on his wound before she covered his wound using a smooth bandage.

Lilia didn't go to her class because the school infirmary needed her to be there until the school ended, so she watched the class she wanted to attend from the monitor and taking notes from the lecturing professor.

Richard saw a sad longing in her gray eyes. He could understand that, Lilia was chosen as school nurse for three times, imagine that you had to attend every classes through the monitor for three full years.

Richard maintained his icy stare as Lilia attaches another med-pack to his wound. They've sat in silence ever since Victor left them to attend his Mechanic Class.

Richard tried to stand, he was getting sick on sitting together with some girl at a closed room. He did a good job of getting up from the bed, but a very bad job on the getting our part.

Lilia quickly aids him, or at least tried to aid him. Richard would let her and he rested his hand on his sword hilt to keep her off.

"I need to tell Victor something, he missed the Sparring match, so he doesn't know what he's up against with," Richard said before adding scathingly, "beside, I don't want to spend time in a closed room with you..."

"Why?"

Richard's icy glare turned into a very uncertain stare that stared back to her for a split-second, just long enough for her to see pass the heartlessness that always filled his eyes.

"Would you stop starring at me? Your stare make my skin crawl," Richard stated matter-of-factly, "if you wanted to help, just tell Victor this: Galvanic Central Eye."

Lilia smiled faintly, "I know that you never change, still a born strategist that reluctant to give anyone any advantage..."

"I didn't change at all, Lilia, I never change."

The sparring match was about to start when Lilia turned up with Richard's message. Victor, although he was an intellect kind of alien he's not a genius on code-cracking.

She met Victor at the back of the arena gate. The gate was a big slab of steel with motorized motor to pull it open. Usually, the only one allowed to be behind that gate was the competing students, but the school nurse got a special privilege so she could met Victor right before his match.

Victor scratched his head nervously, because decoding code is not his thing, "why did he always give the strategy in code? Can't he speak normally like normal human does?"

Lilia only shrugged sadly because she knew that Richard was a very bad case of paranoid. He sees enemy everywhere and he's afraid that his strategy would be used by a wrong person so he always put his tactic in codes and rhymes.

"I know that I'm up against a Galvanic Mechomorph (Upgrade), but what did he mean by Galvanic Central Eye?"

A Galvanic Mechomorph was an artificial alien species created by the Galvan (Grey Matter) by an accident. They're a living liquid metal with the most advance nanotechnology robot that bound their liquid-composed body together. The nanomites, or so it's called, also serves as their special power: the power to merge themselves with machines and control it as they like. You would recognize one by looking at them: jet-black back with green circuits lining along their black region of body and a pure white chest, belly, and other front body part. Their 'head' support a circular green circuit lining that acted as their mouth and eyes.

The redhead could only shake her head again.

After thirty minutes of anxious waiting, the gate was opened with a heavy grinding sound. Victor stepped on the metal surface of the arena. The arena changed for every match so the competing students could learn how to fight in different terrain.

His opponent, GEO-1111 was a type of specialized breed Galvanic Mechomorph called GeoGalvanic. The GEOGalvanic have blue circuits lining instead of green and they also slightly bigger than the usual Galvanic Mechomorph. The GEOGalvanic specializes themself on controlling the surfaces they stand on, hence their name, as long as there's a metallic surface, they could control it.

"Hello, Victor,": GEO-1111 addressed Victor with his usual computerized voice as he let his big hand made out of undulating substances that made up his body for Victor to shake, "I would expect a great match from you,": as he said each word, his eye would emit a blue light.

Victor smiled confidently to GEO-1111, "that's my line. GEO,"

They took a distance before they took their battle stance. Victor spread his feet slightly and held his gloved arms in front of him as he charged the electricity. He also extended the thick rods on his back to amplify the voltage. The only thing that filled his face right now was concentration and determination.

But the charging was to slow.

Just a few parks started to fly between Victor's generator rods when GEO-1111 melded himself with the metal surface of the arena. The black colour of his back was spreading like some kind of disease and in no time at all, the whole arena had become his body parts.

"You got no where to run, Victor Valiant," GEO-1111 stated matter-of-factly before he shot Victor with a blue plasma laser, which effectively cancelled his charging process and washed out all electricity the Victor had accumulated, "your charging speed is to slow, as long as I could abort the charging process, there's no way you could win."

Victor knew that the GEOGalvanic Mechomorph was right. If he couldn't charge fast enough then he would be dead meat-meat. He's still got some electricity, only enough for three shots. He could not waste that three shot if he wanted to win, which he did.

The only thing he could put hope on was Richard's strategy code: Galvanic Central Eye.

But what does it mean?

_A/N: Phew! It took me a whole week to get this thing done and the server is slowly getting back up again._

_Review would be very appreciated. I accept every feedback, even the most nastiest and heart-shattering critique and comment._


	2. Chapter 2

_Sorry of the long updates. I had the end of term exam so I'm competing for the__ Lego Robotic Championship so I could barely touched the computer, let alone the internet._

_P.S: Thanks to Mr. Evil and Dragonscall that corrected my first chapter. I'm improving my writing skill as I write._

_Reminder: VulpimancerWildmutt, TransylianBenvictor, Galvanic MechomorphUpgrade_

_A/N: Dark: I'm a multi-tasking sort of person. So if I meet a writer block, I write another story until I found the inspiration for the story. So the next update would be in about... I don't know._

_Light: There would some another characters making a debut in this chapter._

_Disclaimer: like I said before, I didn't own Ben 10. But the __PLOT__ IS MINE!_

_**Chapter 2**_

_**Victor Valiant**_

Victor shot his trademark green lightning to the arena surface. The Galvanic Mechomorph skin was made out of liquid metal so electric attack would have a big effect on them if it hit them.

"You're underestimating me, Victor," GEO-1111 said as he cancelled his melded form and fired another beam of blue plasma laser that toppled his opponent, "I'm not a general Galvanic Mechomorph. I could cancel my Mechanic Merging ten times faster than the general Galvanic Mechomorph."

Victor hit the wall of the metal arena with a loud _clang_. He checked for any damage and found that one of his generator rods was malfunctioning. The rod was visibly bend and couldn't pick any electricity at all.

'Damn, there's so little static electricity in the air, so little I could barely pick them up.' Victor thought has he regained his foothold, this time, however he make sure that his feet were held by the magnetic force that he create by running electricity through his feet.

A unique trait from a Transylian: they're made from organic metal that bear a same appearance of a living flesh. Most of their body was made from this organic metal, even the generator rods were made out of the exactly same substances that bear a metallic appearance.

He lunged forward to catch the Galvanic Mechomorph while he's still in his humanoid form. But he made a mistake when he grabbed GEO-1111's arm. Galvanic Mechomorph cannot be 'grabbed' because they could simply melt away to avoid grasp and immobilization.

Melting away was what GEO-1111 exactly did. Victor feels very stupid indeed, why did he forgotten the most obvious part about a Galvanic Mechomorph being made from liquid-like substances that melt to avoid immobilization?

GEO-1111's body melt once more as he fused back with the metal surfaces of the field. Victor knew that he had to move before the GEOGalvanic decided to turn him into Swiss cheese.

He jumped aside at a nick of time right before a series of spikes protruded on the very same spot he was standing three seconds ago. If he didn't jump aside or if he moved too slowly, a Swiss cheese labelled as 'Victor Valiant' would be on the canteen menu.

Just when Victor thought he had successfully evade GEO-1111 attack, a pair of big hand shot up and catch him in mid-air. Victor struggled in vain to get free using his great strength.

Well, at least he struggled before GEO-1111 throw him another beam of high powered laser squarely on his chest. The attack broke two of the orb-like objects on his chest, which in turn lessened his electric storing capacity.

Victor's body was washed by an intense pain as his the laser continuously strikes his body. He tried to move his iron gloved hand to block the laser but GEO-1111 had immobilised him completely by wrapping his liquid-like body extension around Victor arms and legs. This way, he could keep attacking Victor while stayed in control of the whole arena.

Victor let a great surge of electricity to set himself free. The GEOGalvanic didn't expect that and the electricity ran through his whole body. GEO-1111 suddenly, for an unknown reason for Victor, cancelled his melded form and rubbed his head, which's consist of an elastic, elongated oval lump of liquid-like metal and a circular circuit line for the eyes, in pain.

Victor took his chance by lunging into GEO-1111 as he attempted to ram him into the wall, but he couldn't help but to wonder about the sudden merging cancelation that GEO-1111 did. 'Why did he cancel his merged form? He's safe if he didn't turn back to his humanoid form, but why did he change back?' Victor thought as he rammed himself to the dazed Galvanic Mechomorph. Although the Galvanic Mechomorph body was made from liquid metal, they're solid because of the nanobot that bind them together.

GEO-1111's features lengthened as he soared backward to the wall. His undulating body stretches like a rubber band before he and Victor hit the wall.

"I have to find what his weakness is or else..." Victor breathed as he swung the literally boneless creature over his head. GEO-1111 didn't exactly go splat, but he went literally flat for a moment.

"Man, are you a ghost or something? You went flat without any problem!"

"That's your problem, Victor, not mine," GEO-1111 said flatly. "I exposed my weak part of my body: the white part on my under body, they're sensitive to electricity and it made me cancelled my merging."

"Next time however, you wouldn't be so lucky, Victor."

Victor then memorized something: a GEOGalvanic have an extremely thin layer liquid transparent insulator, bound together by a special type of nanobots, on their black part of their body. It meant that electricity attack wouldn't work if he cannot hit the uninsulated part. "He only exposed his insulated parts of his body while merging with the arena, and how on earth I'm going to inflict damage? I only had enough power for three surges or shots left." Victor breathed as he readied himself again for another attack.

Richard's words flashed through his mind again and again as the GEO-1111 merged back with the arena.

_Galvanic Central Eye_

0000000000000000000000000

_**Matt ??**_

Honestly, Matt didn't want to spend much time with a sleeping girl hugging him while muttering some suspicious, inaudible words. This situation could lead to some ...err, 'awkward' questions that he didn't really want to answer.

He didn't want to carry her around either. If he did, more awkward questions would bombard him from every direction.

"Hey, nice girl, where did you found her?"

The sudden voice nearly made him passed out due to surprise. He looked for the source of the sound and found a teenage boy sitting just fifteen meter from him and Ellie.

The boy wears a cloak that practically hid his whole body except for his head. His dark hair and purple eyes were frightening and intimidating, for normal people, at least.

"Is that your business?" Matt said quietly as he slowly transformed his fingernails back into the Vulpimancer black claws. He could partially transform his body part into either human or Vulpimancer's body part, took him three month to figured out how to do it, but he did it anyway, "I only ask once more, is that your business?"

The intimidating teenage boy slid out his hand and revealed a sword. His gloves were very peculiar because it was plated with series of metal plates that covered his hand and forearm. He rested his hand on top of his sword hilt before replying calmly, "my name is Lucian Zorro. I've heard a rumour about a convicted alien taking on human shape to escape conviction..."

He let his voice hung on the air to increase the tension. Matt could see that he was enjoying the tension that hung in the air around him. He readied himself by fastening his shoulder armour and greaves for the worst scenario case.

His instinct was right, he just divert his gaze for then seconds and the dark haired teenager's black-bladed sword was already making contact with his shoulder armour.

"Get off, you bounty hunter!" Matt practically spat those words when they break free from the contact. Matt made a great swipe using his claws. His opponent however, seemed to be reading his every move and dodged it easily.

Ellie woke up because of the sound of iron clashing when Matt uses his left feet to block yet another attack. Her eyes widened in horror as Matt's black claws and the black sword clashed with showers of spark on each contact.

Matt held her body using his left hand while his free hand busied itself parrying Lucian's sword attacks. Ellie opened her mouth to talk but Matt shot him a very terrifying look. "Don't speak or you'll bite your tongue!"

Matt dodged another sword's slash as he tried to get Ellie from the fight, but Lucian relentlessly pursued them. Matt felt that he had no choice other than 'that' move.

"Ellie, I'm going to throw you there!" Matt pointed at the building's roof just five meter from them as he sidestepped another sword's slash, "be ready at the count of three!"

But before Ellie could do anything, the Vulpimancer-in-human-form already thrown her across as he yelled, "THREE!"

Matt saw her through his newly appeared thermograph sensor as her body made a gentle arc before landing with a soft _thud_ on the other building. He turned back to face his opponent as his Vulpimancer traits started to appear one by one.

Matt leaped upward using his Vulpimancer's body control and prepared his claws for a hard contact with the sword. He sharpened his senses to make sure that his opponent didn't leave his line of attack.

He brought his claws back to Lucian's waiting sword. He watched in surprise and his claws shattered and the sword cuts through the palm of his hand.

The pain was excruciating. Just imagine your hand being ran through with a sword until the tip of the blade emerged on the back of your hand, times the pain by three times and you get the picture of Matt's pain.

Matt tried to curl his hand into a fist, but the wound wouldn't let him do so. He was surprised when he found no drop of blood in the concrete he was standing on. He looked at his pierced hand for a clue and found strange substances clustered on his wound and sucked his blood. The substances were neither liquid nor gas and it just drained away his blood away.

"What is this?"

"... It's a substance dubbed as "Blood Drainer". My sword is an ancient relic called Vanargand. That substance can only be destroyed by sunlight," Lucian said coldly as he regained his stance, "That thing could turn you into a mummy in an hour."

Matt shook the Blood Drainer off his hand before he dropped on all four, his favourite fighting stance. As a Vulpimancer, an alien species that never developed their walking and running style from semi-quadruped, fighting on all four limbs touching the ground was more comfortable and adaptable for him

"If claws don't work I just have to bite you!" he said as the transformation of his human arms to Vulpimancer's ones were completed.

As quickly as he could, Matt transformed his teeth into the wide dull fang of a Vulpimancer and bit the sword. A Vulpimancer bite was packed with three hundred kilogram of pressure per square inch, strong enough to bend metal in any sword and stop it from moving.

The only problem was he forgot to transform his jaw to comply with the fangs. Guess what happened when Lucian thrust the sword towards him.

000000000000000000000

**Lilia ****Ariel**

Lilia had her eyes closed since the start of the fight. No matter how hard she trained herself; blood still frightened her to death. A nurse that's afraid of blood would be no good for anyone.

She turned her back from the arena and started to make her way back to the infirmary. Her mind was so full of different thoughts that she didn't notice a person walked pass her.

Lilia mumbled an apology but she suddenly realized that the person who brushed passed her was her patient that supposed to be lying on the infirmary with bandages all over him.

"Richard, wait!"

Richard let a heavy sigh of frustration before he turned to Lilia. "Darn it, I though I could slip away, guess I'm wrong, am I?" he said as he buttoned up his long trench coat, "even a strategist had their mistake."

Lilia knew that he buttoned his coat to hide his wound so she would let him go. "Richard, let me take a look on your wound," she said with a mixture of amusement and dismay, "Let me take a look on your wound, if it fully recovered, you can go."

Richard hesitated for a moment before undoing his coat and taking off his shirt. Lilia undid the bandage and to her amazement, the bleeding wounds were gone. The only thing that proved that there were injures on his body was a series of dark line that ran in random patterns.

It didn't make any sense at all because a med-pack would heal an injury in three hour time period and she was quite sure that Richard had discarded his med-pack because it was too cold for him. But Richard's injuries healed in just one and half hour, without any med-pack. "Your wounds are completely healed, but how?" she said as Richard put his shirt and coat back on, "I've never seen any unaided accelerated healing in human before, we just don't have the capabilities,"

Richard raised an eyebrow to her as he secured his sword on his back, "Maybe I didn't, but _you_ did have the capabilities of aiding healing process," he said before he left.

"Did you mean about my parentage?" Lilia asked, remembering about her human-alien blood.

Richard sighed before he looked towards her without turning his whole body, "No, I don't," he said as he left to the arena.

Lilia silently followed him, back to the arena where Victor and GEO-1111 fought. Both fighters were resolving to an all-out fist fight because Victor was punching the surface of the arena. GEO-1111's giant palm countered each blow by receiving the opponent fist with his open hand.

"Hmm... no matter how strong Victor is, punching a Galvanic Mechomorph and hope it'll damage them was same as nailing jelly into a tree," Richard said inertly as he observe the fight, "Galvanic Mechomorph liquid-like nature prevent them from getting too much damage from physical contact such as punch or kick, except if his punch hit the place I told him."

"You mean that simple code you give to Victor can pinpoint GEO-1111 weakness?"

"Actually, it will show him the exact location of the weakness of a GEOGalvanic. You'll make a good strategist someday, Lilia, if you keep exercising that sharp intuition."

Lilia felt that her face warmed as she turned her face to the ground and let her long hair hid her face. Maybe Richard was a selfish and cold person but he knew how to praise people in appropriate time and place. She know enough about his former self to know that Richard still care about people around him without dropping his mask.

"Victor already has the key, the only thing he must do now is to find the keyhole," Richard chuckled with his eye closed, "he's not stupid, I'm sure he'll find the answer in three minutes time."

**III**

**Victor Valiant**

Victor landed another blow to the GEOGalvanic's hand, although he knew that he didn't do much for him. It was the same as punching a water mattress: the more you hit it, the more tired you are.

With two power storage down and a generator rod was damaged, he only got two shocks left before he ran out of power. The situation didn't look too good for him as he raked his brain to decipher the code that Richard gave him earlier.

The word Galvanic would mean his opponent, a Galvanic Mechomorph. The 'eye' could mean the circular circuit line they use to see.

The only word that he couldn't figure out the meaning was the word 'central'. He tried to remember all facts he knows about a Galvanic Mechomorph as he deflected another laser beam using his iron glove.

'They're liquid metallic mineral bounded together by microscopic nanomites. Nanomites are little tiny robots programmed together to act as an individual living organism.'

'But nanomites need a main control system to organize each nanomite individual function and movement..!' Everything clicked inside his head like someone had just turned the lights on. "Which mean the eye is where the control system is located!" He yelled out loud.

He ran as fast as his iron boots would allow him to toward the circular circuit line. It was easy to spot because all other circuit lines were as straight as a ruler. He pulled both of his hands backward to prepare for his strongest punch attack.

"This is it! Victory Punch!" he said as he hit the eye of the annoying GEOGalvanic using both of his fists, the impact caused a large dent on the arena. GEO-1111 took an evasive action by shifting his eye circuit line to the left.

"Almost got me there, Victor," GEO-1111 said with an unusual drop of relieve in his computerized voice, "your attack is way to slow."

"I still had more," Victor grinned with his Frankenstein-style grin as he jumped up into the air, aided by the repelling force of his magnetized feet, "Victory Kick!"

He landed with his iron booted feet on the place where the circular circuit line was. This time, he used the magnetic force to pull him downward so he would land with more force than he should and this caused another big dent on the arena.

Victor smirked loudly as he sent an electric shock to the unsuspecting GEOGalvanic and the spark hit him squarely in the eye.

"Victory Bolt!"

When the green lighting bolt hit the eye of the GEOGalvanic Mechomorph, the whole series of circuit line on his body turned red in colour and the whole arena started to shuddered violently as GEO-1111 tried to cancel his amalgamation, which he failed because his body won't obey him.

"O yeah, I will win this thing, man!"

**III**

**Richardson Tennyson**

Richard watched as the circuit line on the Galvanic Mechomorph's body turned red. He had predicted it since he first saw him walking down the hall.

"What happened?" Lilia asked in awe as she watched the sudden turn of the fight, "what did Victor did to him?"

"Nanomites, as an individual is like an ant separated from its colony. It can't do anything without the other," Richard explained with a flat tone in his voice, "A colony of nanomites, however, could form a single living organism by acting as an individual. But it needs an extremely precise coordination to make them act as one individual, like the Galvanic Mechomorph race does."

"If you messing up the coordination module, like what Victor just did, the whole colony will go haywire and acted as each nanomites acted as independent individuals once more. The effect will last for about thirty hour, enough time for Victor to beat him into a blob of metal paste."

Lilia muttered something about its not funny, but Richard didn't care because he was busy assessing the damage that Victor had received. As far as he concerned, Victor didn't need any serious except for his electrical storing device which need a major refitting to replace the blown-up ones.

"Lilia, did you see any serious injuries except for the broken electrical storage system?"

"Yes, several injuries on the left arm, possible immobilization on left leg as an after effect and a little chance of bleeding on the lung." Lilia said fluently, like a scanner scanning a patient for injuries.

"…Sometimes I… never mind," Richard muttered under his breath, "To make the matter worse, GEO-1111 would need a forcible separation, am I correct?"

**III**

**Lilia Ariel**

Lilia nodded. She tightened her grip to the railing as she watched Victor beat the tobacco juice out of GEO-1111.

She looked at Richard, the last heir of the Tennyson family legacy. She remembered how the cheerful and spirited boy had stopped smiling and laughing altogether.

It was ten years ago when the Richard she knew and like vanished from the face of the earth, substituted by a completely different person. The new Richard never smiled, laugh, or even cry. He had thrown away most his emotions and feeling away since his father died.

He said that emotions and feeling would only get in the way of making a strategy. She knew why Richard trained himself to be a strategist. A strategist could fight, or even sacrificed themselves for the sake of the one they cared, without directly hurting another person.

It seemed to be cowardly but Lilia knew why he did this. The death of his father had affected him greatly, he couldn't bear the thought of hurting people with his own hand, but he wanted to fight for the sake of everyone he cared for.

The whole sparring arrangement had made her sick. She hated the Ectonurite for starting the war. If they didn't start any war, she and the other could live as a normal teenager, even Richard's burden that he always carried could be much, much lighter.

His family was so influential to the Universe Government so he was considered as an important person all around the world. Although he had refused to acknowledge this, but Lilia knew that someday, he had no choice but to take his father position as the bridge between the warring species in the universe because he was the last living Tennyson known on the face of the universe.

It was an impossible task for a normal teenager like him, but did he have any choice? Did he have the right to live like a normal person should? Did the Order of Galliray and the Elders of Galvan, two organizations that literally run the Universe Government gave him any choice to decide his fate?

No he doesn't. It just because of the war the Ectonurite created

"I'm sorry... Richard, I couldn't help you," Lilia cried silently, "If you weren't a Tennyson, maybe I could ease your burden, even if it just a little bit."

_A/n: I know, a bit short, isn't it?__ I decided that from this chapter on, I'll try to make it not too short and not too long so the reader would have less difficulty. I made some references about certain game. I still receive any suggestion about the crossover part in the story. But most of all, please review so I could improve the story._


	3. Chapter 3

_Several new characters were about to made an appearance here. So, senor and senorita, take a seat and read._

_Wondering why did I use the 'Senor and Senorita'?_

_Disclaimer: If I own Ben 10, I would be very rich. But I'm not so I obviously didn't own Ben 10_

* * *

_**Chapter 3**_

One week since Victor's Sparring match, life was back to normal (Excluding the life of a certain Vulpimancer who took human form). Lilia was still nursing GEO-111 and Victor's wound while a certain teenager was busy refusing summons from the Order of Galliray.

**Richardson Tennyson**

It was a peaceful Saturday morning at the town of Bellwood. Everyone was enjoying a blissful sleep and a sleepy day.

Well, it was peaceful until a shout from the last heir of Tennyson woke everyone up.

"No, you goddammit old man, let me spell it for you: N-O W-A-Y!" Richard spat the words harshly to an old Galvan (Grey Matter). The Galvan was accompanied by an angry-looking teenage girl with the same hair and eye colour as Richard.

"Richardson Tennyson, you had no right to refuse!"

"Shut it down, will you? I'm talking with a hardheaded old man and I don't need any snot nose teenager to increase my blood pressure further." Richard replied while he focused his heated gaze at the old bearded Galvan.

"I only here to issue your summon, Richardson, if you keep refusing, you could get executed." The Galvan said matter-of-factly, "If it's your choice not to care, be ready to get yourself apprehended at 13th of December, are we clear?"

"When the hell freezes over, then I would answer your summon," Richard said with little fore thought, "I'm not afraid of death, fear only gets in the way of thinking logically."

"Tennyson, _I_ know that. I'm a Galvan, a species of logical thinker." The Galvan said, still in a matter-of-factly voice.

"I had better things to do, rather than just chatting with some old man," the black-haired teenager fingers were hovering above the '_disconnect_' button. "Good bye!"

He pressed the button without further hesitation. He looked around the room after the connections was broken. Living in such a large place on his own was literally bad for his health, he thought. Just last week for example, he was diagnosed with Hypertension or high-blood pressure that damaged his lung. Lucky for him, the damage was detected early so a little bit of medication made him as good as new.

"Why the entire problem that this world has was blamed on me? Why nobody ever turned on the traitor of a sister?" Richard asked to no-one as he polished his sword.

It's been a long time since Richard last seen his younger sister. She was a total supporter of the Order of Galliray. Although the Order had modified her genes so she can't wear the Omnitrix anymore, she still supported them.

She devoted herself to them. It just made her older twin sick.

Right before she left their house, Richard and the one he called as traitor had a fierce argument. He disregarded any decision that the Order made, let alone supported them. But his sister was disgusted when he refused his summon to face the Councillors of Six.

This matter led into a fierce argument that resulting in her decision to leave their house. Richard wished that if he survived from the Order, he would meet her again.

But that does not mean he would forgive her.

He finished polishing his sword and grabbed his Communicator Phone (CP) and dialled for a certain numbers.

"Reno? It's me," He said to the phone's receiver. "I'm in no mood to heard you bad joke, so put Rufus on. I've got information for him."

**Victor Valiant**

Holiday came so slow but passed to fast.

Victor was sitting on the Math period with his head down on the table. Even Richard wasn't paying attention and started to drew some battle-plans on his book, but Victor knew that one particular person was paying attention even thought she was watching from the school infirmary.

The normal Math teacher was away for the week, so naturally, a substitute came to take his place. But the current teacher was drabbling about some math formula without even setting a work for the pupils. The result was a sleepy class and a very, very ticked off Victor.

If something didn't happen in then minutes, I'm going to puke, Victor thought.

Something did happen afterward. The monitors on the students' desk started beeping. And everyone knew that the only time a desks' monitor started beeping and disrupted a lesson was the time of a Sparring Match.

Today's arrangement was a Tetramand (Fourarms) named Tyraz Aldesa and a possibly human teenager named Antonio Matadore.

"Who's Antonio?" Richard muttered to Victor. It was normal for the Headmaster to put some new students into the sparring match right after they arrived. So this 'Antonio' was just another victim of the Headmaster weird arrangement style.

When Victor was thinking about this, the classroom door slid open to admit the Headmaster, Alphonse Shard. The Headmaster was a Petrosapiens (Diamondhead) and Crystalsapiens (Chromastone) hybrid. He had the appearance of a Petrosapiens with the purple and grey colouring of a Crystalsapiens.

I just think about him for three seconds and there he comes, like a ghost, Victor mused, smiling faintly.

Two teenage boys followed him into the classroom. The first boy had shoulder-length pale hair, which he tied into a ponytail and auburn eyes. He was dressed in a red shirt and a green Spanish-styled overcoat. His good looks rivalled Richard, although it was pointless to taunt him about it.

The second boy had long snow-white hair, although not as long as the other boy's, which shadowed his right eye while a scarf hid the bottom half of his face. He has a tail and a pair of fury wolf-like ears. But the most interesting about him was how he acted. Most new students would be nervous and acted awkwardly, but this white haired boy acted calmly in a frightening way.

The Headmaster cleared his throat before he spoke, "I understand that some of you are in question about who is Antonio Matadore that I put against Miss Aldesa," He announced, looking towards all students in the classroom. "So I'm here to introduce you to the transferred students from Spain and Russia, they're transferred at the last minute and they are very talented students. I expect you would get along with them."

"First, Antonio Matadore from Spain International Academy, an academy known for its Poetry and Matador training. The second is Nichovilan Stallingard from Alexander Academy of Russia, known for its history," the Headmaster added after an afterthought. "You got five minutes before the Sparring Match started, Antonio."

This was going to be an interesting match. A female four-armed powerhouse versus a male human that didn't seemed to have any special ability.

"He got no chance here." Victor said to no one in particular.

**III**

**Antonio Matadore**

"Okay, Nichov, I'm about to face a Tetramand, got any advice?" the handsome boy said to his fellow transferred students.

"Grrrrraaoo, (Just hit them in the face, like you always done)," Nichov growled in wolfish way. No wonder, he was a Caninoid, _(come from two word: canine, mean dog's family, including wolf and humanoid, mean human-like) _a taciturn one too. "Graaaooo (Now get your lazy bum out there)!"

As Antonio entered the desert arena, he grew more confident. It would be no different than when he was training to be a matador in Spain, he didn't have to worry at all. Well, except the fact that he was up against a female. Hitting a woman was against his better judgement.

Then again, he wasn't too good at following his better judgement.

To everyone that saw him walking to the sparring arena without any weapon other than a red cloak, he was dead meat. But Antonio knew better about his cloak than anyone else because a matador most trusty weapon was his or her red cloak.

Tyraz was at least three meter tall and armed with three hundred and fifty kilogram of pure muscle. Antonio was only one hundred and sixty eight centimeter tall and armed only with his cloak.

"Hello, my name is Antonio Matadore, nice to meet you. Could you please go easy on me? I'm new to this Sparring thingy."

"Not a chance, pretty boy," Tyraz replied slyly and winked at him. Antonio made a mental note to never ever flirt with her.

After that brief intro, they took a distance from each other. The match started afterward and Tyraz didn't waste any time to charge at Antonio.

Antonio nimbly sidestepped the massive Tetramand. He put his hand inside his red cloak and held it horizontally on his right hand, like a matador challenging a bull. He focused his auburn eyes onto the two pairs of yellow Tetramand eyes. He steadied his breathing and heartbeat because he knew that rhythm is everything in this battle.

Tyraz charged for the second time. This time however, Antonio didn't sidestep her. Instead, he directed the red cloak so Tyraz would go to the cloak instead of him. He then swung the cloak upward, sending Tyraz flying in the process.

"Yeah baby, Reflector Cloak!" he yelled in glee. A matador victory was determined by the way they handled the first two charges, and so far, it looks like he had won.

**Victor Valiant**

"What the hell is that thing!?" Victor shouted in awe. "A cloak that could throw a Tetramand?"

"First, keep your voice down; my blood pressure is rising again," Richard replied, massaging his head. "Second, did you know about Secret Art of Technology?"

"Yeah, every country had a secret technological item that they kept as a secret, right?" Victor answered back. "America got the New York City-sized battle-craft carrier named _Guardius XIII_ as it Secret Art."

"Spain got a special kind of cloak they named Capote del Reflector. It means Reflector Cloak. It takes one and a half year only to produce one cloak and only the first ranked matador trainees would get them."

Victor scratched his chin thoughtfully, "So that punk is a matador, eh?"

"Nah, he's a trainee. A matador would walk with heavy stepping to show his confidence over the bull. This one still stuck between normal and heavy stepping," Richard explained flatly as he examined the way the Spanish boy moved.

Victor could sense a 'what the hell are you, a scanner' was coming from him, but he knew that comment was pointless.

"By the way, you want to have a bet, or not?" Richard inquired calmly, as always. "The loser treats the winner for lunch."

* * *

**Lucian Zorro**

"Ouch, don't touch it, AWW!"

Lucian looked over to Matt and Ellie. Ellie was changing Matt's bandages and those who know Matt would know: he kept on complaining.

Lucian received an urgent call from the Bounty Hunter HQ when he was about to finish the Vulpimancer/Human off. The call said that the one they were looking for was a Loboan, not Vulpimancer. So he didn't have any choice but to apologize to the half-dead Vulpimancer/Human.

He invited them into the spacecraft he piloted and let the girl and his former target to stay. They were proving themselves to be useful by helping them detaining his targets and help him keeping his ship in shape.

Matt was a very capable fighter too, being able to fight even with his injuries. Ellie on the other hand, was a capable sharpshooter and a proficient healer. She can cook for him too, double bonus for him.

The_ Lunarcruiser_, the ship that Lucian piloted was orbiting slowly, five thousand kilometre per second to be exact, around the Earth. The _Lunarcruiser_ was designed as a long distance traveller space craft, so it had a living quarry at the back and the ship can be piloted by two to three person.

"Matt, Lucian, I heard another rumour while I was in the town, I heard that Richardson Tennyson had refused an order from the Galliray."

"I know. The town of Bellwood often receive visits from the Order escort squad to escort. They… um, got blasted away by the defence cannons that Tennyson installed at the city limit."

"He's allowed to do that?"

"Beats me, when I was chasing for you, my ship was almost get shot down when I forgot to input the pass code."

So by the looks of it, that Tennyson boy was actually protecting the Bellwood because nobody was complaining. But at the same time, he gained the control over the cannons. Lucian thought.

"He's pretty slick, isn't he?" Matt pointed out. He too, had seen the true motive of the cannons.

"Well, his father trained him to be a good strategist since he was seven. I think, Mr. Kyle had overdone it."

Matt nodded in agreement as he stared through the window. He sighed heavily as his half-closed eye looked toward the stars. His stare was directed toward somewhere on the direction of 2100. Ellie seemed to notice his antic because she looked up from her work and stared questioningly towards him.

Matt still acted coldly toward her, although he did show some sign of noticing her. Lucian could see that Ellie was helplessly falling in love with him, but... well, more of that later.

"What are you looking at?" Lucian inquired as he activated the auto-pilot. He could not resist the temptation of being puzzled by Matt frequent 'star-gazing'.

Matt sighed as this question. "You know that a Vulpimancer instinctively knows where he was born, right?"

"Uh-huh. Want me to turn direction to planet Vulpin? That is one deadweight down for the _Lunarcruiser_."

"No, if I go there, I just get booted out again... just because I..."

"What, just because you are a member of the Order's Tracker Squad?"

Lucian words seemed to strike the young Vulpimancer/human dead on. His head snapped towards the teenaged pilot, equipped with his trademark death glare. Which didn't have any effect on Lucian, who retaliated back using his icy glare.

"I'm going to bed. Ellie, don't you dare to wake me up," He said as he walked toward the living quarry.

"Matt, are you okay?" Ellie asked tentatively. The one she was talking to have a habit of snapping back at the person who was talking to him, no matter how soft they speak.

"Yeah. And, by the way, if you wanted to get some sleep, Ellie, stay away from my bed."

"He's one grumpy guy, isn't he?" Lucian said after the living quarry door slammed shut. Ellie nodded weakly before asking.

"Why did he get exiled from his home?"

Lucian tried to consider the answer for awhile. He wasn't sure if giving her the true answer would be right, considering the Order's good reputations. "Ellie, can you keep a secret?"

Ellie nodded and Lucian continued. "Did you know abut the Order of Maximus?"

He received a passable no, so he continued with his explanation. "The Order of Maximus was more known as P.L.U.M.B.E.R., the organization that the United States of America created to deal with alien in Max Tennyson's time. In fact, nobody know the name Order of Maximus, except for the Tennyson family, of course"

"Both Galliray and Maximus held the same power at the time of Cedric Tennyson, Benjamin Tennyson grandson. Although Benjamin Tennyson wanted the Order of Maximus to control the government while Galliray control the military, the role was switched due to Galliray's request."

"The Order of Maximus tried to get the Order of Galliray to include all... erm, 'lesser' sentient or intelligent species into the Universe United Government. The Vulpimancer species was one of the... err, 'lesser' sentient being that the Order of Maximus tried to include. But the proposal was left stranded, leaving the Vulpimancers' home planet to suffer its fate as the intergalactic dumping ground for fifteen years longer."

"What do you mean?" Ellie asked in puzzlement, she cannot see where this conversation was heading.

"Vulpimancer was one of the alien form that the Omnitrix had, so Zamuth, Azmuth's heir and Edward Tennyson, Kyle Tennyson great-great-grandfather, requested a membership for the Vulpimancers. Facing both of them, the Galliray had no choice but to include the Vulpimancer into the Universe United Government."

"But since that day, the Order of Galliray started taking some questionable actions with more questionable motives. So a group of underground rebel, called "Dragon of the Deep" was formed." Lucian explained further. He paused before adding a statement. "I'm a member of this organization."

This statement completely caught Ellie by surprise. "If this rebel was real, why nobody know about it?"

"The Order of Galliray decided it was the best to keep this rebel a secret, or they didn't know about us yet. We always worked undercover to sabotage their plan, there are some double agent in the Order of Galliray that keep us informed so we always one step ahead of the Galliray."

"The most recent plan of the Order was to persuade the Earth's army force to attack the Planet Luna Lobo, not a wise move considering the allegiance of the Loboan. They're planning to use Richardson Tennyson to shield their motive, it was fortunate that he refused." Lucian said as he adjusted the course of the _Lunarcruiser_. "If he accepts, we can't do anything about it."

* * *

**Antonio Matadore**

Antonio was holding Tyraz's upper arms using his own. It was a stalemate; Tyraz was not losing nor winning from Antonio. He was surprisingly strong, even the word 'surprising' was an understatement,

Then suddenly, Antonio's arms started to give in, He was losing against the weight and strength of the female Tetramand. If he could not lift the weight from himself in time, he would be crushed like a pulp.

"Dammit!" he panted as Tyraz finally forced his hand down so it was in line with his shoulder. He kneeled as his opponent put her spare pair of hands on her upper arms' forearm to increase the strength.

Antonio got no choice but to dropped himself on the ground and placed his foot on Tyraz stomach. Using his back as the axle, he threw the tall Tetramand to the wall.

"I don't know you are that strong," the female Tetramand panted as she regained her footing.

But Antonio didn't answer. His warm gaze turned into fiery determination filled glare. His hands balled into fist as he focused his strength. He knew that he was not a superman, but he can try for the last time.

A little pointy and smooth horn started to grow on either side of his head. The horn kept growing straight until it reached some extent where it bent into an elegant obtuse angle so the horns' point was pointing straight up. Everyone in the arena gasped at this transformation, but he didn't care.

As soon as horns were completed, he charged straight at the female Tetramand. Her reactions were too slow so the horns impaled her, but it didn't stop the Spanish boy from moving in a straight line until a wall stopped him. But the wall crumbled due to impact of Antonio's head.

He wasn't quite finished yet with her. He flicked his head upward so suddenly that the limp body of Tyraz was tossed like a trash. He charged again while the limp body of Tetramand was still falling on the air. This time however, he brought his opponent down to the ground using his head, so the horns practically ran through the female Tetramand's body.

Antonio withdrew his horn from the half-dead Tetramand before retracting his horns back. He grinned with satisfaction before dropping himself on the ground.

"Hah, that was tiring, time for a little _siesta_," He said before he closed his eyes and sleep.

**III**

**Lilia Ariel**

After the school was over, Lilia and Richard were called

"His scanning result didn't show any abnormalities as far as I'm concern," the redheaded girl said to the Headmaster and the last heir of Tennyson's line in the Principal office. "I just don't get it, Antonio's scanning didn't show anything abnormal in his body structure, but..."

"Horn sprouting from his head is not normal, I know," Richard said abruptly. "The scanner didn't scan up to genetic level, that's all I'm saying."

"Your statement had a point, Mr Tennyson," the Headmaster nodded in acknowledgement towards the fact. "Miss Ariel, did you have any blood sample from Mr Antonio?"

"Yes, sir, I have. I haven't got time to destroy them, like the protocol number fifteen said."

"Good. Mr Tennyson, can you take the blood sample for DNA scanning at your resident?"

Richard nodded briefly. "Yes, the scanning would take three days to determine whatever Antonio was."

The Headmaster sighed but his face was equipped with a questioning look. "Mr Ariel, can you wait outside the office, please? I need to talk to Mr Tennyson about some classified thing."

Lilia nodded and stole a worried glance towards her childhood friend. Outside the automated sliding door, she heard snatches of conversations between Richard and the Petrosapiens.

"... ... informed ... about the ... plan. Don't ..., Professor, we are one step ... of them. Aaron ... Ryan ... ready... the ..." Richard said in low voice to the Headmaster.

"Thank you, you may go," the Headmaster firm and clear voice said.

The door slid opened and Richard stepped out with a worried look on his face. He was dialling a for contact in his CP, but quickly cancelled it when he saw Lilia.

They walked in silence until Lilia decided to lift the silence. Although she knew that this particular person was not a type of person that continues a conversation once it started.

"Umm, Richard, may I ask for a favour?"

"Hmm?"

Lilia knew enough that if the last heir of Omnitrix replied using a 'hmm', it meant that he was slightly interested. "I need some help with the math work, would you like to help me, after school?" she said tentatively, with her stare on the ground

"And here I am, thinking that you're the only one paying attention at that class," the black haired boy sighed. "Is this a concealed invitation for a date? If yes, not interested."

Lilia became flustered; her cover was blown like a trash. How on earth he did that?

"Judging by your expression, the way you move, and the way your eyes stare, I'm right," Richard continued flatly. "So like I said before, not interested."

"NO! I mean, no, I just need help with it. You know I'm not a great stakes on math, do you?"

"Then why I'm still seeing an invitation for a date?"

Lilia sighed in defeat, once Richard had seen through people's strategy, there was no stopping him. "Okay, I wanted to ask you out, it takes three years for me to screw up the courage and it takes you three second to say 'not interested'."

"I'm not interested with such a waste of time." Richard said matter-of-factly."I need to get so many things done so I don't have time for any nonsense like dating or relationship ... why are you rocking back and forth on the ground?"

Lilia was sitting on the ground, clutching her leg close to her chest and rocking back and forth. Richard last statement hit her like a tonne of brick, leaving her unable to stand, let alone walk. His word also struck her heart like a very sharp spear.

"Alright, if you really need help, come to my place at six o'clock, this afternoon. I've got something to do at seven so you better not be late." Richard said as he put Lilia back on her foot.

"So you're accepting??" Lilia asked hopefully

Richard chuckled slightly. "Don't count on it. Just come, okay?"

His statement got a happy nod. Lilia was smiling again, with tears on the corner of her eyes. "Don't go anywhere until I come, okay?" she said with a smile.

"I said, don't count on it." Richard replied as he passes through the entrance gate.

Although he was so vague, she still loves him.

* * *

_I know, a bit too early, isn't it? But this didn't end anything because twisting with the plot is my specialty. _

_Anyway, I would include Ironman-like character at the next chapter. No, not some silly guy in high-tech armour like in the comic, but... keep reading if you wanted to know._

_I need review to improve_


	4. Chapter 4

_It seems that I got into the readers blacklist, am I?(sniff...)_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10, Man of Action does._

_Remainder: Tetramand: Fourarms, Ectonurite: Ghostfreak, Petrosapiens: Diamondhead, Galvan: Grey Matter_

* * *

_**Chapter4**_

**Richardson Tennyson**

"Stop teasing me, Reno," the black-haired boy said to the CP's receiver in I'm-really-ticked-off tone. He was dressed in the Tennyson trademark black and white T-shirt that he only wears around his home. "It's not a date! I'm not interested in that kind of nonsense, we're in a war, remember?"

"Spoilsport as usual, eh?" the person on the other side sniggered. "I'll give ya some advice, try to make yer confession as soon as possible, it works for me."

"I said this is not a date!" The last heir of Omnitrix massaged his head in frustration, talking to airheads always gave him a headache. "If you got nothing better to do, try to find the entry of 'Antonio Matadore' and 'Nichovilan Stallingard' on our database."

"Found 'em three hours ago. The Professor Head told me to look for them the time they stepped on the academy floor, yo," the laid back person said from the other side.

"Then send the data to my computer!"

"Alright, alright, geez, can't you enjoy the life for once? Live the moment, yo."

"This is a war, you idiot! I'm not going to 'live the moment' anytime soon!"

"Whatever. The data would be at your computer by thirty minutes," Reno said airily." And by the way, don't forget to brush you teeth and uses a mouth spray, so this Lilia won't choke from bad breath when you kiss her!"

Reno laughed his head off from the other side of the phone and disconnected the call before Richard could retaliate back.

To get his mind of the oncoming events, Richard slotted Antonio's blood sample into his great grandfather's DNA scanner. He typed the lock code to the scanner control system and jacked his hand-held computer. The computer was his sixth birthday present from his dad and it was mighty useful. It can be connected to any kind of device via cables or wireless connections. It later acted as the remote control to the connected device, just like hacking, but it only require ten digits password to get through any security.

Before his father died, he used to cause a major chaos on the academy by hacking into the main system and controlling them. Once, this prank awarded him a year of detention.

He frowned at his computer screen. The DNA scan was almost complete, but it definitely didn't show any trace of non-human genetic structure. He waited until the scanning finished before putting on a search for any non-human genes-part. He also makes sure that the search would miss anything that didn't fit with the criteria.

_This is going to be a long series of work_, Richard thought. _I'm not sure if I'm going to get to sleep tonight_.

**Reno Levin**

_(This character's surname was Levin, sound familiar?)_

He was sitting alone in front of a computer with ten-screens, a typical activity of the day for base operator. His job was to make sure that everyone contacting the base he operated was registered as the member of the organization that owned the underground base that located on the Central Antarctica, which where he was now.

Reno's looks wasn't a match for Richardson Tennyson, but still, he was a good looking lad. Spiky red hair that defied gravity on his crown and bangs that fallen to his cheek. He made a long ponytail that reached down to his waist. His face was pretty handsome too: sly blue eyes, and even slyer looking face with an 'X' shaped scar on his forehead.

His look could have felled many women. The only problem was, there weren't that many female in the Antarctica.

He was laughing his head off after he teased Richard about him getting on a date. But his laugh suddenly faded when his stomach rumbled, waiting for its fill.

_What kind of idiot building a base where we could barely get food besides seal and whale? I'm started to miss the good old hotdog stand._ Reno thought as his stomach continued its tantrum. The only thing he had for the last three days was a bag of peanut and two can of soda. The rumbling persisted so he grabbed a pack of yesterday, third-class minced meat and stuffed it all up on his mouth.

"At least Rufus got enough sense not to let me freeze in here," he muttered by himself. His nimble finger danced around the keyboard. "Lemme see…. Aaron is good, he's not distracted yet. How 'bout Cy?"

He typed numbers at the screen and pressed the 'call' button. The particular base operator knew that the one he was calling got an in-built phone, so he sniggered when an annoyed voice answered from the other side of the line.

"RENO! Didn't I tell you that you had no right to call me?"

Reno couldn't help himself but laughed at that person expenses. "You crack me up, dude," he laughed. He stopped laughing when an explosion sound issued through the speaker. "So you're having a party, sounds fun, eh?"

"Yeah, I got caught up with that ogre-of-a-cyborg. I'm trying to blast him off for now but my hand cannon didn't work so well."

"Wanna some Upgrade Data, Cy? I've still got some disk left here," Reno suggested as he rummaged through small-sized disks he stored in his pockets. Each disk contained an Upgrade Data, a kind of data that can be used to upgrade weapons, like upgrading a standard laser gun so it could be used as Tranquillizer gun.

"Got any Sword or Javelin?" the person called Cy said in a rushed and hopeful tone.

"Nope, Aaron used the Sword and Javelin to make new frames for his gun, so I only got Axe and Tranquilizer and Gatling-Gun data. Is that good enough for ya?"

"Just give the Axe, leave the other alone."

"You got it." Reno replied as he inserted the disk to the computer. He quickly accessed the data inside and sent it to the one in need. "There's your Axe, big guy, happy choppin'!"

**III**

**Cyrus Defender**

His real name was Cyrus McGard, an Ireland born teenaged boy who was not exactly a boy anymore, not even fully human anymore.

People insisted to call him 'Defender', because he was an Ironman. Not some silly man called Tony Stark dressed in computerized armour, but a man that was literally made from metal.

Of course, he still got some flesh to prove that he was a human once, not a robot. The only human parts that survived was his head and some his insides.

Cyrus was hiding behind a rock to avoid a barrage of laser beam. While doing that, he accessed the in-built computer on his left forearm. The Upgrade Data from the laid back operator arrived in the nick of time. He quickly installed the Axe Upgrade data to his Nanoparts.

Nanoparts were a type of machinery that could be installed to living being. The parts were installed on his body, limbs, the left half of his face, and the left side of his head. The left eye didn't escape the replacement either; it was replaced with optical sensor in the shape of upturned red triangle. All in all, he looked like a man wearing a metal suit made out of Galvanic Mechomorph.

"What a nuisance, having to deal with Baldie," he said to himself as the green circuit lines on his body flashed in respond to the newly installed Upgrade. His metal left hand retreated back to his arm and reformed itself as a large double headed axe with long pole.

"Time to see who had the superior technology..." he said faintly as he cut the rock that hid him using his newly acquired battle axe.

**III**

**Lilia Ariel**

_Calm yourself Lilia,_ the redheaded girl thought over and over again. _It's not a date, he said it's no a date_.

She then proceeded on knocking the door. After the third knock, the owner of the house opened the door. He was holding ragged piece of clothes on his left hand and one of his swords on another.

"Took you long enough," the Tennyson boy said as he gave his sword one last polish before sheathing it back. "You're fifteen minutes, twenty three second late."

"Sorry about that, my mum told me to run her a favour," Lilia mumbled apologetically.

"Get in and forget the math homework, I've got some news for you," Richard said, ignoring the redhead apology. "Antonio Matadore is not human, not even one bit."

----

Richard took her into the basement. He unlocked the extremely tight security. After Richard done the retina, fingerprints, sound and DNA scanning to open the locks, the heavy-looking steel door slid open and revealed a lab with dozen of monitors in all size and who-knows-how-many gadgets

But Lilia didn't have any time to marvel the underground labs because Richard motioned her into a large computer stations. She stood besides him as he took a seat. Then the last heir's fingers were skimming across the keyboard and brought a greatly magnified picture of a DNA labelled as 'Antonio Matadore's DNA sample'.

"The genetic structures are exactly the same as humans' gene structures, but what made them is not," Richard pointed to the screen. "A very unusual and hard to detect because most commercial DNA scanner only recognized the structure of a gene,"

"You mean..."

"We're looking at the dawn of a new species. Antonio is the first of his kind... or maybe the last," Lilia looked at Richard's features. Although his green eyes didn't show a shed of emotions, his voice told her differently.

Then she noticed a small twitch on his left hand that slowly turned into shaking. Being a school nurse, she tended to notice any red flag.

"Richard, can I see your left hand?"

Richard looked up on her before reluctantly giving his shaking left hand. It was strange, there was no wound in any sort that could have caused the shaking, then it must be an inside problem.

Now, what can cause shaking on body parts? Brain damage, nerves disorder and an array of diseases that affects muscles.

"Why's your hand shaking like this?" Lilia asked as she gripped the shaking hand tighter.

".... Just get me the little blue bottle from the rack over there," Richard pointed at a glass case with a lock on it. "The code is 38340."

_He got everything locked, what kind of person is he anyway?_ Lilia thought as she opened the glass case with the code. The blue bottles contained clear liquid. It smelled strongly of acid and seemed to glow in the dark.

"What is this?"

"Chrysalision, I had to drink it every three week or the shaking that you just see will worsen," the Omnitrix last heir said as he drank the liquid from the bottle.

"Chrysalision.... where did I hear that…?"

**III**

**Matt ???**

"What do you mean I had to have as surname?" Matt asked incredulously to the dark-haired girl.

Ellie nodded before went on explaining. "Lucian says the Order of Galliray Marksmen Squad isn't letting any ship through the checkpoint until the captain list all passengers and crews name that his or her ship brought."

"I'm already listed as passenger, you will be listed as the crew, but the people on the checkpoint aren't going to swallow it if you didn't have a surname, mainly because you're on your human form. So..."

"Okay, okay, I get it already!" Matt caved in because he didn't like to hear anymore explanation. "So what do you have in mind?"

Before Ellie could speak however, Lucian angry voice spoke from the door leading to the control room slid open. "Just call him Doolittle! Because the only thing he do on my ship is eating and sleeping!"

"Oh yeah? Then who caught that Tetramand when you're slacking, slacker?!"

"Who you call a slacker, you damn mutt!"

Matt keen hearing heard Ellie's defeated sigh. He knew that Ellie had tried to make him and Lucian stopped their pointless fights about who was the best at catching criminals and hunting target. But he ignored most of her pleas and went on fighting with Lucian anyway.

"C'mere, you damn mutt, I had to talk with you, privately," Lucian said after noticing Ellie sad sigh. He dragged Matt's ragged cloak towards the control room. Matt didn't like anyone dragging him, so he will have a very serious lashing out to do.

"Look here mutt, stop making that girl sad," Lucian said in a dead serious tone when he was sure that Ellie couldn't hear them anymore. "He had done you so many favours I've got no finger left to count them, try to show some gratefulness to her."

"Yeah, so? Don't blame me for being ungrateful or something," Matt said as he took a seat near the window. "We, the Vulpimancer, didn't know how to say 'thank you' like you human did. We survive on our own, so the word 'favours' and 'thanks' is not on my vocabulary."

Lucian ran his hand through his unattended elbow-length dark hair, something that he only did when he was depressed. "Look, I'm not exactly _a_ human either, but I learnt to be one!"

Matt was truly shocked by the last statement. Lucian looked so human that nobody would swallow that kind of statement. "Are you kiddin' me?"

"I'm not, I'm a hybrid human-Phanteas-Vampiria (_a play from the word Phantom and Vampire_) with an Ectonurite ancestry from my human father side," Lucian stated coldly. "That's why I always put sunscreen on my skin and wear heavy cloak every time I leave _Lunarcruiser_."

Matt remembered the species Phanteas-Vampiria. They are a species of alien that like Ectonurite, combust if exposed to sunlight. They visit earth at the medieval time and spread terror to the human. "You were hiding this from us all along? Why?"

"Because the Phanteas like my mother don't usually breed like other species! They bit other creatures; drain their blood and which in turn turned them into another Phanteas!" Lucian shouted, the tone of his voice was taking a one hundred and eighty degree turn. "I learnt to fight the natural bloodlust of the Phanteas and become a normal human. If I can do it, so can you!"

"YOU"RE WRONG! VULPIMANCERS CANNOT LET GO OF THEIR INSTICT!" Matt stood up from his seat and began shouting at the bounty hunter in front of him. "IF WE DID, IT MEANS DEATH, BECASUE WE CANNOT SURVIVE WITHOUT THEM!"

Lucian grabbed Matt's collar and brings him very close toward his furious face. "Listen, mutt, you're in human body, so start acting like one! I can just dump you at Incarcecon Planet prison if you keep this attitude!"

Matt collapsed back to his seat as soon as Lucian let got of his collar. He glared at Lucian before the _Lunarcruiser_ captain took his leave.

Matt to admit that the captain was right, however, because in any way anyone sees it, Lucian was right, and he was wrong....

**Aaron Celestia**

_I was an apprentice gunslinger, right? An amateur! Then why I'm volunteered myself for __**this**__ kind of mission?_ The blonde gunslinger thought as he righted the position of his lucky red headband on his forehead.

Aaron was an apprentice gunslinger, so he looked like a typical amateur gunslinger: brown shorts, a red scarf around his neck, a shirt with many pocket and netting sleeves, and a multi-utility belt to carry around his gun's attachment. His hair was so pale; it almost reached the colour of white while his eyes were the palest grey most people ever seen.

He was not blind though. Without his clumsiness and recklessness, he was a fairly good gunslinger. But he wasn't a match for what he was up against now. He wad duelling against the leader of the Galliray's marksmen squad, legendary for having the talent of 'never missed a target he's shooting at', which Aaron learn to believe the hard way.

The situation could not get any worse than this: trapped inside an underground base full of marksmen, which were in totally different level from gunslinger, and he had to mow all of them down while having their leader chasing him down.

"C'mon, he's not older than you, Aaron, how can you lose to him?" he asked himself as he stunned two guards using the Tranquilizer gun frame.

_Yeah, a fifteen year old that's already established as the leader of the best marksmen squad in the galaxy, __**how**__ can you win against him, anyway?_ A sinister voice sneered at the back of his mind

Aaron ignored the voice and checked his gun's battery power level. Twenty five percent and he still got a whole squad of guard to mow while having their leader chasing him. What he needed was a bit of sunlight to recharge his gun.

That's right, sunlight. He was the only known person in the rebellion against the Order of Galliray that was able to use the Gun Del Sol. But the leader of the Galliray marksmen squad also uses a type of gun that nobody else can operate.

A sound of footsteps made the apprentice gunslinger turned around and fired at the source of the sound. But he was too slow, because three light bullets found its mark on his left shoulder.

"Give up, amateur. It's obvious you didn't train much," a prideful voice said to Aaron as he clutched his injured shoulder. The apprentice gunslinger looked up to face the leader of the infamous Galliray marksmen squad, the famous Felinesapiens (_It's the same as Caninoid in the last chapter, Felinesapiens come from two word: feline, means cat family, including cat and lion, and sapiens, means intelligent being_), Arthur the Kid.

Arthur, or more known as Kid, was the only operator of the ancient three-barrelled gun that don't use any kind of artificial energy source or storage or bullets, the _Chimera_.

The _Chimera_ sucks energy from its user, amplify them and fire them as a deadly bullet. The fatality of the bullets will depend on how angry the user is. The only thing that the user of _Chimera_ needs to be aware is the fact that the gun tires him or her and stop shooting when the user is too exhausted or worn out.

"I thought the first three shot was enough," Kid said as he sheathed the three-barrelled gun back. "Some people never give up, don't they?"

Aaron silently changed his gun frame from Tranquillizer to Javelin behind his back. He just has to wait until Kid come into the Javelin's blast range.

_One more step to go..._

Kid took the one step Aaron was waiting for without even thinking twice. Aaron brought his gun forward and just before he pulled his trigger, he shouted the phrase he always wanted to say. "SUCK BRICK, KID!"

The powerful blast from the Javelin frame threw the arrogant snob to the collapsed brick wall that Aaron had busted before to make his way out. He had planned it all, except for the getting-shot part and the part that he accidentally set the Javelin into the highest setting and drained the battery power completely.

The gunslinger ran as fast as he could after blasting Kid to the wall, after learning what a mad Kid could behave; he just didn't want to be in the firing range.

_Run, Aaron, Run..._ the sinister voice screamed at the back of his mind. He did not need to be told twice, so he ran until he found his spaceship, the_ Solarcarrie_ which he parked outside of the base, and took off without looking back.

But when he was about to sigh in relieve, the audio sensor on his ship a series of loud gunshots. At the same time, the thrusters of the _Solarcarrier_ were losing power.

"_Want me to suck brick eh? I'll show you how to suck brick!_" Kid's angry voice called from the receiver. Aaron instantly knew why he was losing power. Kid was shooting bullets at his ship, and the _Chimera_ was on the peak of its power, so it caused enough damage to make the giant _Solarcarrier_ lost its power.

But Aaron still has one trump card left; he didn't name his ship as _Solarcarrier_ for nothing. He typed a code to the keyboard on the ship control module to unfurl two dozen solar-panels from its storage room and slid themselves to position at the top of the _Solarcarrier_'s massive body.

It was lucky that he was assigned on the Causirian planet, a barren desert planet with absolutely no ozone layer to keep the light from solar system sun from frying the planet's surface so the only natives' life forms were thriving under the sea. It was a good thing for the _Solarcarrier_'s solar panels too, because it picked more light thus giving the giant ship more boost.

Aaron activated the booster system. It was simple matter of supplying the extra power from the solar panels to the engine.

"_Oh no you don't, EDO!_" Kid's cried through the receiver of the ship. Aaron instantly knew what Kid was calling for. The one and only metal horse named Edo.

"_Edo, Wing Mode!_" Aaron heard Kid instructed the metal horse Edo and he knew what it meant. His radar showed a flying object, a little one, but with the manoeuvrability that no other little aircraft had.

The metal horse with its somehow elegant metal wings came into the view, with its rider shooting at the solar panels.

"HEY! That thing is expensive like hell! Cost me a fortune to fit them all on my ship!" Aaron yelled through the communication module. He typed another code that activated all Solar-Blasters on his ship. It took thirty second before the six Solar-Blasters to warmed itself up and start firing a series of beams of high temperature light, which all missed its target.

"_Get back here, you little amateur, or I'm gonna shot you silly!_" Kid said through the receiver.

"If I get back there, you gonna _slap_ me silly!" Aaron said, using his weak sense of humour to make the reply. "I'm off!"

Shutting down all weapon system, Aaron focuses all power that the _Solarcarrier_ had to the engine to activate the Hyperdrive to get his amateur butt out of the desert planet before he get another shot from the angered metal horse rider.

Just hope that Kid didn't call reinforcement, though....

**III**

**Richardson Tennyson**

"MR. RICHARDSON!"

"wha? What did I miss?" Richard jumped from his sleep, he was working so hard last night that he forgot to sleep.

"Solve this equation in less than one minute, Mr. Richardson, if you're so smart," the murderous math teacher said triumphantly to the sleepy Tennyson. He pointed to the board, which held an equation that only a Galvan or a Cerebrocrustacean (Brainstrom) can solve in a hurry. "C'mon Mr. Tennyson, or you'll be sent to the office."

Richard only felt a slight rush of anger when the answer to the equation clicked into his brain. "It's easy, the answer is twenty five point three," he said sleepily.

The math teacher only looked at his notes and stared back at the Tennyson in disbelief. "How did you do that, Mr Richardson?"

Richard rapidly switched himself into 'awake-mode' because he can literally feel the stare of his classmates, even the one who was not present on the classroom.

"Umm... lucky guess, I guess?" Richard shrugged nervously. He didn't like being the centre of the attention. "And just drop it, okay? It was a lucky guess."

Richard got bigger thing to worry in mind than a silly teacher being confused by him. The loopy Headmaster that he respected but also become the source of his irritation has placed him against the person that he really didn't want to face for his Sparring match.

Lilia Ariel, the one who had done him so many favours that he cannot count it anymore.

The class was dismissed early so Richard could prepare for his match. He polished his sword for the last time before setting out to the arena

"Cheer up, man," Victor smiled to his best friend as Richard grimly walked to the sparring arena. "All you have to do is knock her out with the hilt of your sword, just don't use the blade"

"Easier said than done, Victor. I've know that phrase better than anyone," Richard said grimly. "Meet you at the lunch area, it's your turn to buy me lunch, remember?

"You got it dude," Victor said as he left his best friend to think before the match.

_I just don't want to fight her, but I cannot lose as well.... _Richard thought angrily. _All this makes me angry...!_

He walked slowly pass the arena gate when he was called, hesitant to fight the girl that he... what the hell he was thinking? It wasn't the time for this kind of thought. So he put his hesitation aside and took a long stride to the arena, even thought his stomach knotted itself upon the prospect of hurting a childhood friend.

The arena was rocky, providing a perfect hiding place for him, but also hazardous if he didn't exploit it correctly.

Lilia stood at the middle, waiting for Richard to meet her before the match started. She was wearing a white long dress, quite unusual for a person that was about to fight.

Lilia sighed sadly as Richard stepped in front of her. "I wish we never met like this, Richard..."

"Shut it Lilia, I'm not interested on any wishing. We're here to fight," Richard stated coldly as he unsheathed his twin swords and took a fighting stance. "So get on with it."

Lilia closed her eyes as her lips moved rapidly. She opened her eyes when Richard lunged for her. She waved her hand and sent Richard back flying and hit the rock.

"Dammit, having an Anodite (_Ben's grandmother is one. Gwen can do magic because she was part Anodite_) as your father did help you a lot," Richard muttered under his breath. He unsheathed the third sword he carries and threw it towards Lilia.

Lilia waved her hand again, but this time, the thrown sword was broken into pieces. But at least Richard knew the limit of the repelling spell.

Lilia recited another spell that caused the boulders around Richard to collapse. Richard looked up in surprise, but it was too late to dodge it....

Suddenly he felt angry, really angry with anything around him. He caught one of the boulders that were failing on him, without really knowing what he did or how he did it. He threw the boulder he caught towards his opponent.

He just felt so angry that everything was a blur to him, except for his opponent. His sight was set on her and there was nothing else he noticed.

He dropped his sword to the ground and ran towards Lilia and jumped. He jumped so high that Lilia had to raise her head to see him.

Richard saw the last glimpse of his childhood friend before it all goes black....

**Lilia Ariel**

Lilia could barely believe her eyes, Richard's jump reached at least eight meters in height and he did it unaided.

She dodged the attack as Richard brought his fist to the ground, which made a crater like a Tetramand would make if they do the punch on the ground. She recited another spell and set another invisible barrier around her.

The dust around her opponent hasn't cleared, but a stream of flame from the core of the dust cloud almost hit her on the head. She only set the barrier to repel physical attack such as fist or sword, so the flame can go right through it.

_Flames? But Richard didn't bring any other weapons except for his swords!_ Lilia thought wildly in confusion, then from where that flame came from?

Her train of thought was disrupted when diamond spikes started to travel from the dust cloud towards her. She jumped sideway, which proved to save her life because a giant spike of diamond tore the ground where she was standing

The stubborn dust cloud was finally cleared by Lilia's wind spell, inside was Richard, but he look different. First, his right sleeve was completely torn, revealing a large diamond arm, similar to what Petrosapiens' arm. Second, his left hand was engulfed with flame like a Pyronite (Heatblast). His eyes colour had changed too, from dark green to blazing yellow that looked wildly and mercilessly at her.

"What happened to you....?" Lilia said in disbelief before Richard fired five shards of sharp diamond at her. Lilia forgot to set her barrier up and the shards hit her.

One of the shards found its mark on her heart....

* * *

_Remember the summary? Especially the phrase 'is he really normal'?_

_I never let the main character powerless, but remember what happened to Kevin 11 after he absorbed the Omnitrix's power? I kinda liked the idea of turning our hero into what Kevin 11 is or I can make him into a revenge-seeking kind of person that killed everyone that get in his way._

_Or I could just leave him as a miserable teenager. Keep reading if you wanted to know my decision! And Review please; I'm improving as I go._

_P.S: I'm working at another fiction for the Harry Potter section. I might publish it after I publish the sixth chapter for this fiction. Richardson Tennyson will make appearance on that fic too!_


	5. Chapter 5

_I received some review asking about how Richardson got its power, so the explanation is included in this chapter, along with the limit of the power because I believe that no power is perfect._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10 (Darn it!)_

_

* * *

_

_**Chapter 5**_

**Lilia Ariel**

She can feel the cold feeling on her chest as her blood left her system. Her sight becoming blurrier as second passed, but she could still see Richard transforming his diamond right arm into a crude sword of diamond.

She could hear yells and shouts of panics from the spectators' stand. She recognized the loudest one as Victor's.

She closed her eyes and concentrated all of her mind to recite a healing spell, but before she even started, a sharp pain ran through her body, originating from her stomach. She opened her eyes and found Richard was face to face with her. His blazing yellow eyes looked mercilessly at her, but behind the wildness and ruthlessness on the yellow eyes, she saw confusion and anger.

Lilia felt vast relief after seeing Richard's eyes; the being who had his hand through her body was not Richardson Tennyson. It was something else and whatever it was, it was confused and angry.

She was relieved because Richard never wants to directly hurt anyone. Never…

She could almost feel that her opponent revert his crude-diamond sword arm back into a normal human arm before roughly pulling it back from her body. The pain that washed over her was unbearable that her feet gave away to her weight.

Richard hasn't finished her just yet. He raised his flaming left hand, which blazed more violently as soon as the owner lifted his hand to the air.

She closed her eyes, ready to accept her fate. Sad words escaped Lilia pale lips as Richard brought his flaming hand down to finish her. "So this is how I died…."

Lilia waited for the pain that washed her body to end as she died. But the relief to the paina never come. She opened her eyes again, looking for why did Richard didn't execute her yet.

Richard's body was supporting a large burn; right at the center of his chest with some visible sparks of green lightning jumped from the wound and three shards of purple diamond were sticking out from his shoulder.

Thudding footsteps confirmed her suggestion about who saved her. A pair of iron boots and a armoured black shoes came into her view. She knew that iron boots belonged to her opponent best friend while the other pair belonged to the head of the school.

"Mr. GEO-1111, please carry Miss Ariel to the infirmary," the Headmaster said in business tone. "I'll deal with him."

"Yes, Headmaster," the computerized voice of one of Lilia's patient answered from somewhere outside her sight. Then a pair of large hands lifted her of the ground and hurriedly carries her to the infirmary.

Her consciousness could not hold much longer. Her sight was getting darker and darker as every second passed before finally, it all goes black.

**Headmaster (Professor Lance)**

"Mr. Valiant, I can take care of this by myself," the Headmaster said matter-of-factly. He was wearing his usual armour that allowed his crystal to manifest itself outside the suit without damaging the armour. "Evacuate with other students, just as I instructed."

"No sir, Richard is my best friend," Victor said flatly as he flexed his iron-gloved fingers. "And if anyone would knock some sense into him, it has to be me."

The Headmaster took a side glace before nodding in acknowledgement. ".... Very well, you may aid my attempt to restrain Mr. Tennyson," he said, still in matter-of-factly tone. "But if I asked you to evacuate, you'll have to evacuate, understood?"

Victor grinned in a very confident sort of way. "I wouldn't count on it, sir," he said as he extended the two thick rods on his back. "In fact, I _absolutely_ didn't count on it, professor."

"Well then, enough with this chat. We had a student to restrain," the Headmaster said calmly. His armoured gloves retracted, revealing his hands that are made from purple crystal.

"Victor, manoeuvre seven that professor Slicke taught in the first year,"

Victor nodded as he ran to Richard's fallen figure. He was a slow runner, but he was sure that his strength will compensate for it.

Richard opened his eyes just before Victor's iron glove hit his gut. Victor could see he was steadying his feet and moved back.

But his moves was super-fast even Headmaster's trained eyes couldn't keep up with him.

"What the hell?!" Victor exclaimed as his best friend moved in super-speed.

"Mind your language, Mr. Valiant," the Headmaster said calmly. A habit he developed after years of teaching.

Richard moved again, this time faster than a normal eye can see and he was heading for the Headmaster. Before the professor could put any form of defence, he was hit by a very strong force that made something cracked.

To make a Petrosapiens body cracked, you'll need a very high frequency sound or a very strong force. Even if a Tetramand punched a Petrosapiens using all of their four hands, they can't even make a scratch.

"Mr. Valiant, watch out! He's using momentum from his speed to increase his strength!"

Richard growled audibly and roared in an animalistic way. His body began slowly fading from the view.

"Invisibility.... so he can do that as well," the alien Headmaster said to himself. "If he is able to do invisibility, then....! Mr. Valiant! Watch out!"

The warnings come too late for the Transyl. He was thrown by an unseen force. Then he was thrown up and down like a rag doll by the invisible being. Richard then materialized as he grabbed Victor's hand and with a mighty swing, threw him to the Headmaster.

The Headmaster didn't have anytime to dodge. The organic-metal that made the Transyl body weren't as strong as his crystal body, but it still can cause a lot of pain.

"Mr. Valiant, stop!"

"What? Why?!" Victor replied in shock. "We had to put some sense into him, now!"

Victor got up and ran towards his best friend. Richard didn't move an inch this time, but he opened his mouth, revealing a pair of fangs. The Headmaster's knew what was coming even though his brain hadn't worked it out yet.

Richard howled when Victor's fist was about three centimetres from his face. But his howl wasn't just any howl; it threw the massive body of Victor backward into the wall and cracked the crystals on the Headmaster body.

Richard had just performed a Sonic Howl, similar to a Loboan's (_Benwolf)_ howl. Human should not have any kind of capability similar to the werewolf-like alien.

But the Headmaster, as a self-proclaimed and respected genius, had seen this in Richard for a long time. All evidence, from the heir behaviour, intelligence, and how the Galliray always chased him for a reason besides his influence.

He, Professor Shard Lance, was looking at a new type of hybrid. A type that not only posses the genes of two species, but the genes of the ten thousand known alien species in the universe, even the genes of the Headmaster's mother and father species.

Richardson Tennyson was a Hybrid Human-Omnitrix…

**III**

**Reno Levin**

Reno put his red parka on and donned the communicator earpiece. He grabbed his Lightning Staff that he dubbed as Thunder Staff. His Thunder Staff was capable of either firing electric blast or hit an opponent with electricity charged hit in close combat.

He was going to hunt for food unlucky seals or fishes that might come across his hungry eyes. Rotten Rufus hadn't sent any food supplies and the rotten leader only said "Get it yourself, Reno".

Reno was really, really aggravated at this. Well, would _you_ get out from your warm, cosy hiding place to the middle of an ice desert, walked for about a hundred kilometres to reach the shoreline, and wait patiently with frostbite as your constant companion until a fish or a seal pass in front of your nose? Would _you_ like to butcher your catches, using only a mallet and a stick, drag it back to your hiding place and eat it while it was still frozen solid?

Guess not, but it was exactly what the Base Operator had to do if he wanted to survive in the cold, dead Antarctic. There was no edible animal inland, if you didn't count the alien animals that loved human for their delicacy, so he had to get to the shoreline if he wanted to eat. Drink, you ask? Why, Reno just have to melt some snow and he got instant drink, easy! Nothing beat a drink from dead cold snow which bit your mouth.

"This is not on the job description..." Reno mumbled grumpily. "Rufus better raise my wage or I'm gonna electrocuted him."

He jumped into his flaming red Snow-Plane. A snowmobile-like vehicle that carries two pairs of wings and able to take the sky thanks to a pair jet thrusters (_Frosthrust 9 engines to be exact_) mounted on the back. The Snow-Plane, which Reno dubbed as _Red Strike_ designed to work on extremely cold condition because the engines were easily overheated, due to the lack of cooling system, hence the name, Frosthurst.

The Base Operator didn't waste any time. He revved the _Red Strike_'s motor engines and shifted the gear from neutral to _I'm Off_ gear.

The gear of his Snow-Plane was marked with some strange and unusual label. _Blast Off,_ and_ Run for Yer Life, land-mod_,were just examples of them. Each had their own purpose, like _Blast Off_ gear deploy the wings, deactivated the motor engine and activated the Frosthurst 9 engines, making the vehicle fly. While _Run for Yer Life, land-mod_ activated the Frosthrust 9 without deploying the wings or deactivating the motor engines, making the _Red Strike_ faster on land.

The trip was fairly uneventful, unless you count some giant Frost Horned Whale, which Reno learned the hard way as inedible and very, very dangerous, occasionally popped from under the iceberg. The white horned whales however, support a very valuable horn on their forehead that Reno usually use to made knife and mallet. All he had to do was to stun them using electric shock, cut the horn and let the whale go. The horn will regrow after three weeks.

Reno's stomach started its tantrum again. So he put his goggle on and switched the gear to _Blast Off_ so his stomach would gain its fill faster.

The side compartments which carried the _Red strike_ wings opened. The wings developed themselves, sliding into position automatically. The fully developed wings made the Snow-Plane vaguely resembled a biplane, without the bars that held the wings together, of course. The Frosthurst 9 activated, marked by the wake of blue exhaust flame from the rear side of the engines.

As _Red Strike_ left the ground, Reno enjoyed the feeling of wind playing on his hair. Rufus often complimented for his flying and dogfight skill. If Richardson Tennyson was a born strategist, he was a born pilot.

He had an almost irresistible urge to make a pilot joke, but then he remembered that nobody was there to laugh or whack him on the head for his jokes. Everyone in the organization was just too busy with their assignment that they didn't have time to use the secure channel that Reno was running.

Reno sighed as he stared at the grey sky. _Richard was lucky, he got a nice girl keeping him company, although he barely takes notice of her_, he thought as he stared at the endless whiteness of the ice plain. _Me, I'm just a lonely, unlucky jerk in the middle of nowhere_.

If only the Base was somewhere other than the South Pole or the North Pole, he wouldn't be this lonely.

**III**

**Matt Raigan (Formerly ???)**

"So you still have the part of _Lunarcruiser_ on Mars base?"

"Yep, what are we riding now is just part of the _Lunarcruiser_," Lucian replied at Matt question. "I couldn't get permission for Carrier-Class ship until now. Luckily, the _Lunarcruiser_ is designed by combining two ships into one. So detach the smaller part and leave the other part on the Mars base."

Carrier-Class ships are typically bigger than other classes. The only other ship that was bigger than a Carrier-Class was the _Guardius XIII_, America's secret technology. A Carrier can be bigger than the typical hangars that the Earth Military force uses.

(_Picture this: imagine the hangar that an old Airbus A-380 uses. A Carrier is about twice as big as the hangar, and that's the minimum size of them_.)

"Aaron, my, err... fellow captain also have a Carrier. Like mine, his Carrier is designed to be capable of operating without any crew," Lucian continued as he piloted his ship towards the Red Planet. "You can say that the _Solarcarrier_ that Aaron has is the rival of my _Lunarcruiser_."

"Yeah, it's so obvious," Matt rolled his eyes. Lucian and Aaron was obviously a rival, if not archenemy to one another. He could almost picture a lively blonde captain at the same age of Lucian with short hair and a gun. All he had to do was to reverse every aspect of Lucian and he could almost get the picture of this 'Aaron'. It wasn't that hard, wasn't it?

"I'm kinda worried with Reno; he's not answering my call. He must out hunting," Lucian said as he looked at the monitor on the control panel. Matt knew that this 'Reno' was a redheaded boy living in the earth's South Pole as the Base Operator for the rebellion against the Galliray.

He could picture a redhead with long hair and a pony tail was beating the snot out of a seal or whale. A person who was beating seals or whales obviously cannot answer any call. "Yeah, I can see that," Matt said sarcastically. "I agree to join this 'rebellion' so I can track down the Genesis Hybrid Experiment result."

"Err... yeah, with thousand of them; it's not going to be easy to track them," Lucian said, scratching his cheek.

"Their power is not perfect," Matt insisted. "They're going to be valuable allies to the rebellion."

"_If_ we can recruit them, Mutt," Lucian said grimly as he typed the code to enter the Mars territory. "And I got the feeling that it not going to be easy."

"We can start with Experiment Number 31773," Matt said as he looked through a list he nicked from the research facility where he had worked before. "She was released about ten years ago. She was one of the nominated candidates for the Perfect Twenty. Her ability is to communicate with technology. But she was dismissed because she never uses her power."

"And the meaning of 'dismissed' is..."

"No, she's still alive somewhere. Not like Experiment Number 63773," Matt said grimly. "He was dismantled because he threw a rampage at the Jupiter settlement. My squadron did his 'dismantlement' under the instruction from the Order of Galliray"

Lucian raised a hand, looking very sick and disgusted. "I had weak stomach, Mutt, so stop before puke," he said, gulping to hold back his vomit. "Save your description for yourself, darn Mutt."

The ship gave a slight jerk as it descent toward the red planet's surface. The atmosphere had been improved since humans started to settle on the red dust that covered Mars. The temperature on the red planet was also improved by more than a dozen underground reactors scattered around the planet.

"We're going to land on the place where I hide the other part of the _Lunarcruiser_," Lucian said as he manoeuvred his ship towards a large mountain. "Welcome to Mount Olympus, the biggest mountain on the solar system."

The word 'large' was an understatement for Mount Olympus. The peak was flat, and reached the height of twenty four thousand meters, three times as big as Mount Everest. Matt gawked at the majestic mountain. At his home planet, the tallest mountain was called, if Englished, Mount Xenorian. Xenorian was actually an unstable pile of junk that only reached three thousand meters in height, so this was the first time he ever 'see' a real mountain.

"Wow... I can't believe that this kind mountain exist," the Vulpimancer-in-human-form said awe. "In my planet, 'mountain' is just a pile of junk."

Lucian typed another code to the control panel and sent it to some receiver nearby. The effect was immediate. The rocky surface of the mountain base retracted, revealing a huge metal doors that began to slid open slowly.

"Welcome to my personal hangar," Lucian said proudly. "I need to get my friend up here first, though. He was my personal mechanic. Fortunately, he lived at the Mars settlement."

"I got a question for you, dark boy," Matt said as he watched the vast hidden hangar opened its massive door. "If you're a rebel, why did you ask for a legal permission for your ship?"

"My order is to spy," Lucian replied, still in a grim tone. "It meant that I have to follow the law that the Galliray put on..."

"Then who got the order not to _spy_?"

"Let's see, Aaron and Cy got order to attack the Galliray's squadrons, so they're fugitives right now," Lucian said as he counted his fingers. "Jasmine and Leif's orders are to investigate, while _your_ order is to attack if needed."

Lucian didn't waste any more time and began the ship docking process. The _Lunarcruiser_ approached a vast platform, attached to four docks. The ship carefully approached one end of the platform and without deploying landing gear, the _Lunarcruiser_ landed softly on it.

A series of clicks was heard under the ship. Matt presumed that the platform locked on the ship so the ship was completely docked.

"Combining process completed," Lucian declared as he typed more codes into the panel. "We can rest for three days. The synchronizing process will take twenty-four hours."

"What? I don't see any carrier part," Matt said as he looked outside the window. "So why did you say combining process was complete?"

"Tch, I think you're mistaken, Mutt," Lucian said in dismay. "The platform you're looking at is the other part of the _Lunarcruiser_."

**III**

**Victor Valiant**

"Super strength, super speed, pyrokinesis (_power to control fire_), diamond control, and now Sonic Howl?" Victor muttered as he got on his foot again after Richard threw into to the wall for the umpteenth times. "_What_ is he?"

"Mr. Valiant, try to immobilize him using your electric shot," the Headmaster called as he tried to outflank the last heir of the Omnitrix. But Richard turned around instantly, as if he had an eye on the back of his head, and fired a beam from his eyes.

The Headmaster absorbed the beam, using his Crystalsapiens' ability. "I've taught you, Mr. Tennyson, laser-based attack is useless against me," he said before firing the beam back to its source.

But instead of hitting Richard, it hit Victor instead. Richard had raised his diamond arm to deflect the beam toward his best friend. He didn't even flinch when the beam hit him in the arm or when the beam hit his best friend.

Victor managed to hold some of the beam using his iron gloves, but he force was strong enough to throw him off balance. Richard then fired a jet of flame towards him, searing Victor's metallic skins as it washed over him.

The burned Transyl was still conscious, but was too wounded to get up. He growled as Richard threw the Headmaster using a super-strengthened arm.

Something clicked inside his mind again, just like when he battled GEO-1111. Richard only attacked the Headmaster if he already disarmed Victor. The frequency of attacks towards the Headmaster was considerably larger than the number of attacks that was directed toward the Transyl.

What was the meaning of this?

But before his supposedly-genius-brain could work it out, two other figures entered the arena. The first figure, who had long blond hair and a pair of horns pointing upwards on his head was heading towards Richard while the other one with white hair headed for the Headmaster.

_The transferred students had come for our aid, but what'__s the use?_ Victor thought in dismay.

It turned out that he was dead wrong.

**Antonio Matadore**

The Spanish boy didn't even bother to use his Reflector Cloak, not even to use his hand.

So what did he used? His rock-hard head, equipped with a pair of horns. His head was strong enough to destroy the Arena wall, which was how they got in the first place.

But the teeny Tennyson's reflexes were faster than his. The black-haired teenager grabbed Antonio on his horns and threw him to the ground.

When Antonio looked up, the last heir of Tennyson was changing from in a very fast speed.

A coat of black furs crept on his head and travelled to his back and chest. The black line on his chest that the black furs had made was instantly surrounded by light blue furs as the Omnitrix heir body grew larger. His legs twisted and reshaped themselves until it resembles the hind legs of a very muscular wolf, complete with three toes on each foot. His head also transformed into a wolf like head while claws sprouted on his fingers and toes to finish his transformation.

"Erm, Nichov? Is that supposed to happen?" Antonio called out to his white haired friend.

"Grraa! (NO, Idiot!)" Nichov snarled back in response. "GRAAA (THAT'S A LOBOAN (_Benwolf_)!"

Richard, now in his Loboan form, opened his quadric-hinged jaw and howled. The howl was not the destructive Sonic Howl, but it was loud enough to pin Antonio and his scarfed friend down on the ground.

Antonio remembered that the Sparring Arena was round, he looked over to Nichov, who covered his sensitive ears to avoid hearing the loud sound.

The Spanish boy grinned as he grabbed the Russian Caninoid by his tail and threw him high over the arena. I mean, _really_ high.

"Nichov! Look down!"

Nichov did as he fell from the height, as he looked down, a transformation begin.

"Time to fight wolf with wolf," Antonio smirked as he watched Nichov transformation.

**Nichovilan Stallingard**

Nichov could feel his face lengthened and furs started to grew on his body and face. His scarf fell as the transformation of his face to wolf continued. His tail grew longer while silver claws sprouted from his fingers.

When he landed on the ground, he was a werewolf with more or less, humanoid body because his limbs didn't twist or transform in any way. He flashed his silver claws before he looked towards another werewolf.

His wolf's side was challenged by the presence of another bigger and stronger looking werewolf. He snarled before he lunged to the black and blue wolf, silver claws flashing in the light.

It was a fight between wolves. It was fight for dominance, power, and most importantly, to prove who was the most superior between the werewolves.

Nichov's silver claws light up with silvery light. He then made two slash on the air with his claws, which released a crescent beam of shockwave. The shockwave hit the Loboan squarely on the chest.

The rest of the fight was a series of brutal and bloody clawing, biting, and unleashed special abilities of from each werewolf. Even Antonio closed and covered his eyes with his hand to prevent himself from watching the excessive brutality.

(_The author didn't bother to describe the fight because it was too bloody, even for him._)

After fifteen minutes, the bloodied and battered Richard began rasping for breath, like a Pisciss Volann gasping for breath on land. His Loboan form began reversing its transformation while the Omnitrix heir kept gasping for breath.

After the Loboan transformation was completely reversed, Richard fainted from what apparently a sheer exhaustion. Seeing his opponent had fallen, Nichov's wolf side retreated back to the corner of his mind with a great satisfaction, causing Nichov to slowly revert back to his normal appearance.

Nichov donned his scarf as he looked disdainfully toward the unconscious figure of Richardson Tennyson before motioning Antonio to lift the fallen Tennyson and bring him to the infirmary.

He stared with his cold dead eyes toward the Headmaster, who was supporting Victor Valiant on his shoulder before he turned around and left the arena, leaving a trace of cold aura behind him.

**III**

**Headmaster (Professor Lance)**

"What is he exactly, Professor?" Victor asked in an impatient fashion. The Headmaster could understand his concern about his best friend that was lying in the infirmary.

"This is only my hypothesis, but I think he is a Hybrid Human-Omnitrix," The Headmaster replied.

"How is that possible?"

"The Omnitrix bound itself with the wielder by copying itself and the DNAs sample it contained and inserted the compressed copy to the wielder DNA. The copy remained even if the wielder successfully removed the Omnitrix, which later transferred into their offspring."

"Generations of Omnitrix wielder had caused massive changes in the Tennyson family hereditary due to the accumulated Omnitrix genetic copies. Starting from Kyle Tennyson great-grandfather, the Omnitrix only act as a regulator that regulates the transformation."

"What do you mean...?" Victor started interrupt, but was silenced by the Headmaster hand gesture.

"Be patient, Mr. Valiant. What I mean by 'the Omnitrix only act as a regulator that regulates the transformation' is that the Tennyson didn't need the Omnitrix to transform. The Omnitrix prevent the partial transformation, like we seen in Mr. Tennyson, thus minimizing the risk of mutation."

"You mean my best friend is going to mutate into some monster?!"

"No, Mr. Valiant, because Mr. Tennyson's DNAs and Omnitrix copy had synchronized perfectly, eliminating the chance of mutation by ninety-eight percent," The Headmaster said, relief was visible on the young Transyl face. "However, full transformations weaken him, increasing the chance of mutation because he needs energy to maintain the natural regulator."

"Therefore, there's a limit on how many full transformations he can do in one day. My prediction is three times a day, more than that, I can't guarantee his safety. He can do his partial transformations as long as his stamina holds out." The Headmaster continued his explaining. "But there are some species' capabilities that cannot be accessed by partial transformations due to the nature of human body, so please tell Mr. Tennyson this information as fast as you could."

"Yes sir."

**III**

**Alia**** Eldritch (known as Alia Tennyson)**

As the youngest member of the Councillor of Six, Alia Eldritch was considered as an extraordinary young prodigy. With IQ reaching the score of three hundred and seventy four, she was the smartest human being ever recorded.

Her real name was Alia Tennyson, the lost younger twin of Richardson Tennyson. She goes under the surname of Eldritch to avoid her brother recognizing her.

But being smart doesn't mean she was not beautiful. She, like her brother, supported a very fine look. Her waist-length hair was silky jet black, and like her brother, her eyes were dark green. Her beautiful features were so breathtaking, just like her brother.

But her personality was still an adolescent female human's personality. She was still attending an academy as well, the Megas Alexandros Academia to be exact. She was the youngest individual and one of the only two humans attending the Alexandros Academia.

"Okay, Leonardo, you can stop working now," Alia said one day to her butler and bodyguard, Leonardo Splinter, as she studied on her stately manor's living room.

"What? Why?" the brown-haired butler exclaimed as he stopped polishing an ornament from the shelves.

Leonardo was Alia personal bodyguard and butler. He was assigned to protect Alia when she was admitted as the member of the Councillor of Six. Since the, Alia and Leonardo were rarely separated more than three days. He was chosen due to his unmatched combat capabilities that were rarely found on human and his loyalty.

"You need to get yourself focus on the test, Leo," Alia said as she solved another mathematic problem with ease, smiling towards her butler and personal bodyguard. "So consider this as my generosity."

"But...!"

Alia beautiful face turned grim. "Or you wanted to fail and I'll fire you?" she said grimly. "How do you like that, hmm?

Now it was Leonardo's face that turned grim. "How about my work?"

"Don't worry, Maria will get it done for you," Alia said, taking a sip from the tea that Leonardo served earlier. "My representative is already taking my place."

The door of the living room was opened by a hand made from bandages-like material. Its head was like a mask with no mouth and a gap for the eyes. The eyes and the gap between the bandages glowed with eerie green light.

It was a male Thep Khufan (_Benmummy_), determined by his dull brown shell-like head. His race was a slave to the Ectonurites, but Alia didn't show any sign of fear towards him. She greeted him warmly, instead of screaming on the Thep Khufan mummy-like appearance.

"Hi, Kuf, how's your work as my representative?" Alia said pleasantly as Leonardo offered as seat to the tall and lanky Thep Khufan.

Kuf didn't answer her question verbally, but a soft whisper in her mind answered her question. "I've bring all the things that you need to sign," it said in a voice that sound like wind blowing through a sands.

Kuf was a unique Thep Khufan, which was why he was not enslaved by the Ectonurites. Tep Khufan were a race of mute being, meaning they didn't speak or even made voice because they didn't have the capabilities and made their only way of communicating was by using sign language or writing. But Kuf could speak directly into the mind of the person he trusted.

"Sorry about that, Kuf. My final exam is coming and I need to study hard so I'll pass."

".... It's been a while since I passed the test on the Academia," Kuf whispered telepathically. "You and Leonardo better pass this test, or else."

"I know," Alia finished her tea and continued her study while Kuf rose from his seat at took his leave.

Alia rethought about what Kuf meant for her as she worked her way through the books. He was like a brother and a father that she had lost or considered as lost, even though he came from a resented and hated race.

Leonardo was also a very important person to her. Not because he acted as her brother, but because of his loyalty.

Then the picture of her brother came. Alia felt a pang of pain when she remembered how she had left her brother alone. How he had to take the responsibility as the Earth representative from their father after she left him.

It was hurtful to see how her brother didn't recognize her anymore. Leonardo said that her appearance had changed drastically over the years, which she considered as a blessing and a curse.

It was a blessing because she often receive praise as one of beautiful women that came down into the history book along with Cleopatra and Princess Diana. But it was a curse because her brother couldn't recognize her anymore, which was more painful than anything.

She just hoped that some day, her brother would forgive her.

**III**

**

* * *

**

_How's that? The one that our hero__'s sister was one of the top leaders that literally run the universe! It means that she was our hero biggest enemy!_

_Our main hero turned into the second Kevin? It's still possible, so keep reading if you wanted to know how Richardson __ends up._

_One more thing, can anybody guess what Reno's power is? he had a special power, he just didn't show it yet. Clue: his power ran through the family._


	6. Chapter 6

_You may wondering why the character 'Rufus' is mentioned again and again, but never made an appearance. Well, here he is now._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10_

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**Chapter 6**

**Richardson Tennyson**

_He was walking at a place where everything was pure white. He couldn't distinguish the background, the floor he was threading at, or the sky. Every step he was taking held a risk of falling down because he couldn't see any hidden holes or dent on the floor._

How did I get here? The last thing I remembered was the fight with Lilia and then….ARGH! I can't remember!_ He thought as he looked at the endless stretch of white._

"_Hey… nice to see you here, king" a sinister voice said from behind his back. Richard turned around and found… himself sitting cross-legged not so far away from him._

_But the Richard who sat cross-legged was different from him. Instead of having dark green eyes, he had a pair of golden blazing eyes. Richard also saw thousands of shadows that took form in different shape and size originating from himself and the golden-eyed Richard._

"_Who are you?"_

"_Isn't that obvious, king? I'm the world, the universe, the knowledge, the strength, and most importantly, I'm you."_

"_What are you talking about?!"_

_The other Richard didn't budge from his place, but his voice turned grim and menacing. "Let me tell you something, you held the ultimate power, you ignorant fool! I'm merely a personality without a body that's here to make sure you make a good use of it," the golden-eyed Richard shouted, his eyes blazing with anger. "Did I have to show you? Did I have to show you the ultimate knowledge, power, and the key to All Form?"_

_The golden-eyed Richard raised his hand. At the same time, a vast rectangular shadow fell over them. The green-eyed Richard turned his back slowly, wondering what the source of the rectangular shadow was._

_It was a grey gate with a mark that resembled the Omnitrix insignia carved on it. The gate was in a way, majestic and charismatic, but at the same time, terrifying. The two doors of the gate slowly opened, releasing a malevolent and frightening presence of something contained within them it._

"_Do you think the Omnitrix just pop up out of nowhere in Azmuth mind?" Richard other self asked, still in his stubborn sitting position. "Azmuth saw what's inside this gate and saw the truth of every universe, ours and its parallels. He created the Omnitrix to let the universe understand each other _without_ looking at what lies behind this gate."_

_The real Richard felt himself nailed at the spot. He tried to move as thousand of elongated arms, made from a jet-black substance that resembled shadows dragged him into the gate, but he couldn't even blink, let alone run. The grip was so tight he could barely breathe and at the source of the arm, there was a single blood red eye. Even its gaze caused pain to every fibre of his body._

"_There's no use, Richardson. You just have to resign to your fate and see what lies in there," the golden-eyed Richard said as he looked at his counterpart being dragged to the gate, screaming and reaching for him. "You'll gain the ultimate power, but in exchange, it'll take something from your heart."_

_The golden-eyed Richard grinned sadistically as the gate started to close. The last thing that the real Richard heard was, "It's a Fair Trade, no?"_

_With that, the Omnitrix heir was swallowed by the gate and the horrifying and painful process of 'gaining the ultimate power' began._

**III**

**Lilia Ariel**

Six month after that fight, Richard was still in a comatose state. Lilia always came to visit him every day, waiting for her childhood friend to wake. She even made new clothes to accommodate his new power. The clothes allow his power to manifest outside the clothing without burning or ripping it into pieces. It could also accommodate transformation, either by shrinking or enlarging itself when needed.

"Richard, physically, is one hundred percent healed from any wound," Lilia said to Victor one day after consulting the doctor that tended Richard. "But his brain activity is strange. The brain activities are constantly spiking beyond normal, it's like he is seeing, hearing, think, and hurt at the same time in his comatose state."

"Is that normal?" the Frankenstein-teenager asked, although he seemed to know the answer.

Lilia shook her head. "No, a comatose person isn't supposed to have this kind of brain activity," she replied sadly. "The doctor says if he didn't wake up in two weeks time, he will…."

Lilia couldn't bring herself to say the word. Victor however, knew the word already and finished the sentence for her.

"Dead, right?"

Lilia collapsed into the nearest chair and cried. Victor wanted to comfort her, but his iron glove would cause more pain and comfort.

Victor took his leave after three hours of staring at his best friend lifeless body while Lilia decided to stay longer. When he was about to open the door, the door just fell from its frame and squashed Victor underneath it. The door was kicked down by a red-haired teenaged boy with a long ponytail and black suit, which he left unbuttoned, over his white shirt.

"What did ya do to him, dammit!" the new teenager pointed an accusing finger at Lilia. "Professor Head said that he went down when he was fightin' with you!"

"Reno, calm yourself down!" the Headmaster said, appearing just behind the red-haired teenager he addressed as 'Reno'. "There's no point having a fight in this situation!"

"Yes there is! If I beat her to pulp, it'll give me some satisfaction!" Reno said as he reached out for something beneath his suit and took out a baton-like object with a button on it.

The baton extended itself into a long staff. When Reno was about to struck Lilia, Victor, who had extracted himself from the wreckage of the door, and hit the red-haired boy at the back of his head. The result, you ask? He fainted, instantly.

"Knock the door, will you?" Victor joked after the redhead fainted.

----

"Who says I don't knock the door?" Reno asked playfully when he comes around. "I knocked, with my foot."

"Yeah, as in, knock the door down, you mean," Victor chuckled at Reno's and his own joke. They seemed to get along because of their carefree and make-a-joke-even-if-you-dead personality. "Seriously, where have you been all my life? You could make my life funnier!"

"Mind your manner, Reno, Mr. Valiant," the Headmaster warned as he poured a glass of water for Lilia to calm her nerve. "Drink this, Miss Ariel; it'll calm your nerve."

"Thank you professor."

"Hey, Professor Head, have you talked to the doctor yet?" Reno asked as he typed something on his CP.

"Yes I have, Reno. The doctor said that if he didn't wake up, he'll pass away."

Reno's reaction was unpredictable. He ran toward Richard's bed and grabbed him by his shirt. His sly blue eyes didn't seem to be sly anymore, the only thing filled those eyes was anger.

"WAKE UP! YOU CAN'T DIE NOW, YOU MORONIC STUPID IDIOT!" Reno yelled on the top of his lungs, tears welled up in his eyes. "YOU PROMISED TO EVERYONE NOT TO DIE UNTIL THIS DAMMED WAR'S OVER! IF YOU DIE NOW, I'M GONNA KILL YA!"

"RENO! Get a grip over yourself!" the Headmaster tried to separate the enraged teenager from the lifeless one.

Reno let go of his grip, but he also took his leave after that incident. His eyes were still shining with anger and disappointment.

Lilia could understand why Reno was so angry. Richard had made a similar promise to her too when he was six, right after his father told him that he was the heir of the Omnitrix. He promised her that he will not die until he became the world most famous hero, just like his father.

After one hour of stay, the Headmaster and Victor decided to leave. Lilia however, decided to stay overnight because it was Friday. Her reason was just in case Richard wakes up; she would be able to tell the news straight away.

But her real reason was different from what she had said.

**Richardson Tennyson**

_Six month inside the gate was a period of pure pains, but what inside the gate was... indescribable. In the midst of pain, information about just anything, even what the most famous and know-it-all Galvan scientist didn't know was crammed in to his brain all at once, resulting an agonizing headache throughout the last six month. _

_His body didn't escape the pain either. The single blood red eye's painful gaze never relented, not for a nanosecond. His body was also being stuffed with power from thousands upon thousands of different species, even some species Richard didn't even know to exist or had been extinct, and it caused a whole lot of pain._

_Even the phrase 'agonizing pain' was an understatement._

_Then after six month of torture, the gate threw him out off the horror that lies behind its doors. The golden-eyed Richard was still there, sitting cross-legged and looked in an amused sort of way toward him. "Well, how's that?"_

_Richard shook his head, still not ready for any word. "Well, it's time for you to get back anyway," the golden eyed Richard said, still unmoving from his sitting position. "But it seemed the gate had taken something. Answer this riddle and you'll get it back," he added._

"_More precious than gold, stronger than diamond, cannot be bought and cannot be sold, bring happiness in the grimmest time and bring light to the darkness, it was a source of power that made every species continues to exist. What is it?" the golden Richard, winking at his green-eyed counterpart. "Now, its time for you to get back."_

------

Richard slowly opened her eyes. He was lying in an unfamiliar white room. He sat up slowly, noticing that his clothes were neatly folded on the end of his bed.

He looked at his left side. What he had found almost made him jump in surprise because of a certain red-haired girl was sleeping with her face right beside where his head was placed before.

Richard donned his clothes as quietly as possible. He instantly knew that his clothes, even the long black trench coat was specially made so it will not tear or burned in any situation. It can also let anything through without tearing it and could even shrink to accommodate size-changing transformation if needed.

He was confused, how did he know so much about a material he never used before? He glanced around the room, even a simple glance gave him the exact detail of everything he saw, from the exact image of the hospital building schematic to every details anyone can possibly get of every objects on the room.

He looked at the sleeping Lilia, even by glancing at the sleeping girl, he was able to locate every fibre of nerve and every blood vessel in her body. Richard shook the image, literally and figuratively before opening the window.

He threw one last sad glance towards her as a pair of semi-transparent fragile insect-like wings grew on his back. He then threw himself out from the window. The fragile-looking wings beat rapidly to take the Omnitrix heir's body airborne before it hit the ground.

He was going to miss earth when he gone but at least the Headmaster would take over his job as Earth representative. He also had a job to do and to accomplish that job, he need to leave earth.

He looked up, towards the full moon. He swore with all his heart, right under the silvery light of the moon that he will not come back to Bellwood again. He swore that he will not lay eyes on his hometown again for the rest of his life. He swore that he will never contact his friends until he finish what he had started.

And he swore that one day, he would come back for Lilia.

There were some memories that had to be forgotten if he wanted to leave. Bellwood and his friend held most of them so he had to forget them, no matter what.

Although it seemed to be impossible for him.

**IIIII**

**Lilia Ariel**

_Three month later..._

Three months had passed since Richardson Tennyson gone missing from the hospital room where he was treated. He was gone right under the eye of Lilia Ariel, which was watching over him at the night he goes missing.

Lilia received the blame for the lost of Earth representative. Practically, the whole world was blaming her for this matter. Why? Because she was there, she was supposed to be watching the comatose heir of the Omnitrix, but the result was disappointing.

Victor started avoiding her if possible, the Headmaster never talked to her again, and Reno, who occasionally pop up on Bellwood to visit Victor always looked at her with so much hatred Lilia couldn't bring herself to see him for the second time.

One day, she was preparing for dinner when the door on her house was knocked. Her mother, Cecilia Ariel, whom Lilia bore a great resemblance to, told her to open the door.

She opened the door, and for her surprise, it was her father and little sister.

"Mother! Its Dad and Lila!" Lilia called to her mother while embracing her father and her little sister.

Lila Ariel was Lilia little sister with two years gap between them. Her appearance didn't differ much from her big sister, except for her longer brown hair, which touched the ground if she left it untied, and her amethyst-coloured eyes.

Her father didn't bear any resemblance to his daughters. In reality, he didn't have a solid body. His 'body' was made from bluish energy that made the Anodite, but he can take a human form of a man with yellowish hair with amber-coloured eyes.

"What bring you here?" Cecilia asked to her ex-husband. They were divorced ten years ago, right after the start of the Ectonurite war. Lilia never knew why, and it never mattered to her.

Lila took her older sister palm and began tracing letter to it. 'Dad wants me to live here from now on,' Lila traced. Lila couldn't speak because she was born without a vocal cord, resulting in her being totally mute. Her only way to communicate was to trace letters to someone's hand. 'Isn't that great?'

"Of course, Lila," Lilia laughed, although her laugh was forced due to a bad feeling she just receive.

'What's wrong?' Lila traced in confusion as Lilia led her to her room.

"Nothing, it's just..."

'Because everyone was blaming you, isn't it?'

"No, because I think dad was here to say..." Lilia gulped down her saliva before continuing to her sister. "To say goodbye to mother."

Lilia explained that the Ectonurite had made their move again. This time by attacking the base of the Order of Galliray's Eagle Division located at the Lencascar Planet. They already knew that their dad was the Second Lieutenant in the Galliray's Dragon Division, so he would be called for the war.

(_Let the Author Explain. In The Order of Galliray army there are seven different special squad and seven divisions. The Division are Dragon, Cheetah, Eagle, Whale, Armadillo, Mantis, and Chameleon. Each division has their own ability and weakness. For example: Dragon Division is the spear tip of the Galliray army, the Cheetah is special strike force, and the Eagle is the Air-force of the army, and so on. Geddit? Oh never mind._)

'Why this stupid war started in the first place? Because there's no more heroes like Kyle Tennyson anymore?' Lila traced the letters into Lilia hand. She was shaking visibly.

With the last one earth could turn to was missing because of her mistake, the war had started again. The very thought of the war hurt her like the diamond blade that Richard had ran through her.

"Lila, if dad has to go, he had to. If not, who else would go for him?"

Lila answer was surprising. Lilia knew that Lila was hard headed and strong willed kind of girl. She envied her little sister for having such a strong will and courage that she would never have.

What Lila traced into her older sister hand was 'I would'.

**III**

**Alia Eldritch (Tennyson)**

Alia was in a meeting room with Leonardo and Kuf by her side. All councillors were gathered to discuss the war effort to hold back the Ectonurite invading force.

The leader of the Councillor of Six was an old bearded Galvan named Calrizeus. He was Alia's role model due to him being the wisest of all Councillors.

The second youngest member was a young human woman, a nineteen year old young woman to be exact. Her name was Karen Sinceria, often nicknamed as the Voice of Love amongst the Councillors. She looks like a matured version of Alia, except for her hair and eye colour. It was a very rare coincidence, Leonardo said once.

Also in the meeting room was the youngest ever Highest General in recorded history: Ericson Frontiere, a man in his early twenties. His looks resembled her brother so much that if his hair was black instead of gold and his eyes was green instead of blue, everyone would mistaken him as the missing Earth representative. He was standing in his black high-collared army uniform with a cape tied carelessly in front of his neck. He also carried his beam spear on his back, making him look menacing and charismatic at the same time.

"Councillors, I had very grim news," Ericson, or Eric as Alia calls him, started the meeting. "An army consisted of a Transyl and Thep Khufan was advancing on the Lencascar and its twin planet, the Lancescar."

"As you all know, both planet had a massive reserve of Amplifier Crystals. If they get their hand on that reserve, they'll gain a slight edge over us," he fluently explained. "I didn't suggest the dispatching of Dragon and Eagle Division for the time being. Our choice lies on the Chameleon, Cheetah, and Mantis Division, we can only send one Division, seeing how concentrated the enemy force are."

Karen and Alia discussed the matter by themself while other councillors were doing the same with others. Because they were the only female members of the Councillors, they felt much more comfortable discussing with one another.

"Why can't we just send one of the special squad? The Marksmen Squad and Assassin Squad would be the best," one of the Councillors member said to the young General.

The young General sighed. "The Marksmen Squad was attacked by an unidentified gunslinger. He caused a lot of casualties in the Marksmen rank. The Assassins Squad, in the other hand, didn't receive any order, even from the Councillors, beside from their leader, which's still investigating the city of Bellwood."

The meeting became a serious debate for four of the Councillors members while Alia and Karen were listening to the conversation. Alia tried to make a plan from everything she just heard, but it seemed that her brain came into a dead end.

The meeting was closed after three hours of berating over strategies. Karen, General Eric, Alia, Leonardo, and Kuf walked together. Karen had showed her a silver engagement ring with Eric name carved on it while Ericson also wore the ring with Karen's name engraved on it as a necklace.

"When you and Eric will get married?" Alia asked after Karen gave her lover a quick peck on his cheek before the young General left her to his own office. "I hope it's soon."

"It's soon, Alia, maybe four months from now," Karen said as she gazed lovingly at her lover. "How's Kid going?"

"Well, each time we had a date, it will end up with both of us shouting at each other..." Alia admitted shamefully. "But now, I'm really worried about him. I mean, he's been shot and his wounds haven't heals yet but he still going around catching criminals."

"Well, his dream was to be the best Marksman in the universe," Karen laughed gently. "I imagine that he wouldn't let a small injures get in his way."

"Yeah, I guess so..." Alia said, still embarrassed by her confession before. "But have you got any tip for me so we wouldn't be fighting each time we met?"

"People love each other in different way, Alia," Karen said wisely. "My way to love Eric is different than your way to love Kid."

"By the way, I heard that hot-blooded cat-boy was heading to Lencascar all by himself," Karen said, turning very serious. "Edo's transmitter showed that he was heading for the concentration of the Ectonurite army."

"Maybe his dead by now," Kuf suggested silently to Alia in flat whisper.

Hearing that, Alia didn't do anything but faint.

**III**

**Reno Levin**

"Dammit, dammit, dammit....!"

"Reno, stop, I'm getting dizzy from all your dammit," the blond apprentice gunslinger pleaded to the redhead. "I also need to made another gun frame, can you give me the Gatling data? While I'm at it, why did you say dammit all over?"

"Dammit because my step-cousin is missing, dammit because the DNA trackin' didn't show any luck, dammit because of that wretched lass who let my step-cousin gone missin', dammit....!"

"Okay, okay! Stop, stop!" Aaron covered his ears to escape the excessive amount of 'dammit'. "I _really_ need to concentrate now; one wrong move and my frames will go haywire!"

"Sorry...." Reno said, chewing on a seal carcass and not looking very apologetic at all. "Wanna some? I can use a charcoal drill and salt, but it's good enough."

"No thanks," Aaron replied as he uploaded the Gatling data to the frame he just made. The frame lighted up with yellow lights, he then had to wait until the frame's light died down. If not, the whole gun would explode after three shots.

"This base is running low food _and_ energy! I can't get boost anymore!"

"You keep taking energy from the reactor, aren't you?! That's why we're running low on them!"

"Hey, if Rufus didn't tell me to beat some snot out of some whale, I wouldn't take any boost from the reactor!" Reno argued. "Besides, it keeps me goin' without any food for weeks."

Reno stopped his argument when a call request came into one of his monitor. Reno groaned in dismay at the caller's name. The very same person he just mentioned like ten seconds ago. No prize for guessing who.

"What?!" Reno spat to the intercom. He was talking to the leader of the rebellion, practically, his boss, but he showed no manner as usual. "Want to tell me to conk some whale again because the food is late?"

"No, I was about to tell you your latest mission," Rufus, the charismatic blond man in white long suit countered. "And I was about to tell you that you didn't need to bring your whale. But it seemed that you enjoyed them more than the cheeseburger I sent you earlier."

Rufus was a typical image of a leader of an company, but he didn't fit the typical image of a rebellion leader. He had short blond hair, which he combed back without any parting line and he always wore a long formal white suit that resembled a trench coat over his black formal shirt. He was a man in his late twenties, but his face already showed many scar from battle, from claw-inflicted cuts on his cheek to the thin line of scar on his left eye.

"No, no, NO! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Don't take them, please!" Reno moaned pitifully. "I swear I will not say that thing again to you! I promise!"

"Ok, get on with the business. First, I want you to modify _Red Strike_ so it will be able to operate in desert condition…"

"ARE YOU INSANE?! MODIFY RED STRIKE!?" Reno interrupted with an utter horror on his face. For him, modifying the pride and beauty of his loyal snow-mobile was not less than a criminal damage. It was the worst vandalism act in the millennia as he called it. "I had to completely strip her down to modify her engines and wheels! Do you have any idea how painful that is to Red?!"

"Then use the _Blue Strife_, that car had been in the garage for long enough."

"Do you know why I call her 'Blue'? Because she was a prototype, she's not perfect yet!"

"Reno, why you speak about cars and snow-mobile like they're your wife?" Aaron asked suddenly.

"Oi, shadup you little amateur, you don't even know how to change a car oil."

"I know how to repair a whole Carrier, darn it! And stop calling me amateur!"

"Reno, let me tell you why I give this mission to you," Rufus said, his tone suddenly took a grim turn.

"Why? If it's bad, give it to Aaron."

Rufus sighed heavily. "We tracked your brother... "

Reno sly blue eyes lost its slyness as it widen in disbelief. "You mean, you found _him_? No way!" he said fiercely. "I thought he was dead!"

"Sadly, yes way, it's _him_. The very same one that killed Kyle Tennyson."

**III**

**Nichovilan Stallingard**

One thing you all have to know about the certain white-haired teenage Caninoid was this: he didn't take order and anyone who ordered him around usually didn't survive to say sorry. They learned a lesson that they could never forget because they would be too dead to forget it.

He had killed three Lieutenants because they give him orders. He wiped out a whole squadron that was assigned to arrest him in thirty second, so the Galliray's Councillor of Six didn't even dare to give a squeak about how he worked and what should he done.

He also got very thin to none aura of presence. If you think his white hair, red eyes, wolf ears and tail would made him stand out like a white ping-pong ball floating in a barrel of tar, think again. He had the strange ability to disappear, not literally, but it was close enough. You and he might be sitting in the same room right now, but you just didn't notice him until he stab you at the back of your head.

That's right, _stab_ you. He was a leader of the Galliray Assassins Squad, but unlike any other squads, his squad didn't take order from the Galliray. Nichov was nicknamed as 'Wolf the Reaper' because if he targets you, you better ask a tombstone for your Christmas or birthday present, because they will came in handy, and say every prayer you ever know.

In simple English translation, nothing escapes him.

But why a dangerous assassin was roaming in a high school full of babbling, chattering, silly students? Investigate and spying on Richardson Tennyson and Professor Shard Lance, that's why. Nichov, although he didn't take order, he respect the High General and absolutely detest the Councillor of Six.

Why? They are too cocky and big headed, he said.

"C'mon, Nichov! At least try!" Matadore cried in exasperation because the Assassins Squad leader was refusing to try the Spanish I-don't-know-what-kind-of-alien-is-he homemade cooking. Even thought Antonio's cooking was excellent, Nichov prefer fresh dead rabbit and the like.

"GRAAOO! (_For goodness sake, you're the leader of the Galliray Siege Squadron and your hobbies are napping and _cooking)?!" Nichov snarled angrily as he chomped another piece of raw and bloodied fox carcass. He managed to eat without taking off his scarf, although he knew that he had to change the scarf later. "GRRR (_Get a tougher hobby or something, instead of pestering me with your cooking everyday_)!"

"Hey, I never wanted to be the leader of a squadron, I want to be...." Antonio took a deep breath before he shout so loud that Nichov curled his ears. "THE GREATEST MATADOR AND CHEF IN THE UNIVERSE!"

A long pause followed. Nichov was I-don't-like-to-dream sort of people. He doesn't have a dream because he going to make his dream a reality.

"Grrr (_Anyway, I tried to hack the Tennyson's resident Master Control Unit last night, guess what? I failed, miserably_)," Nichov growled as he torn the fox tail from its body using his hand.

"Well, I suppose the all-brawn-no-brain approach wouldn't really work, right?"

Nichov nodded grimly, still chewing at the fox's tail. The Tennyson resident, although it didn't look up to it, hid a very, very tight security. The word 'tight' is an understatement for this one. Imagine, all locks, alarm, camera, and other sensor can only be unlock or disarmed by using a DNA, thumbprint, sound, and retina scanner. Everything was locked with a series of impossible codes; even the sofa will arm itself with Electro Magnet Pulse (EMP) gun if you get the code wrong.

"I got the feeling that this Tennyson disappearing has something to do with the strange power he showed us before he passed out," Antonio said, eating his own cooking. "Hmm, need more spice. Anyway, Nichov, did you have anything to say about Richardson strange power?"

Nichov shook his head. He always admitted his defeat because a defeat is only minor setback from which we could learn to achieve victory. Because for an assassin, learning from mistakes and fault was as important as drinking and eating.

"NichovI get news from Won-Lee yesterday," Antonio continued in grim tone. "We tracked one of the two missing Levin, so he need you to help them."

"Graaoo (_which one? The annoying jerk or the sadistic killer_)?" The Caninoid asked his partner.

"Well, the sadistic killer, is that good enough for you?"

The real Nichov never felt happy, or any kind of emotion besides angry and disappointed, but his wolf side was roaring in delight upon hearing a stronger opponent was waiting for him. "Grrr (_that's good enough for me. He will give me some sport before he died_)."

**III**

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_The next update might take long because__ there's an exam comin' my way, not a big one, but enough to keep me from the computer for two to three weeks._

_I would like to thank Cross the Dammed Soul for being constructive and supportive to my fic. Like before, I receive any constructive criticism, even the most heart breaking ones, okay?._


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10_

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**Chapter 7**

**Matt Raigan**

Being in one ship with a dark boy and an annoying girl was bad, but the mechanic was even worse.

The mechanic of Lucian _Lunarcruiser_ was a big, really _big_ man who claimed that he was no older than nineteen years old. Matt couldn't believe him because he was at least two meters tall and at least twice as wide as a human. In addition of being a giant, Cy, as Lucian called him, could bend the hull plating of the carrier with his bare-hand. Just in case you don't know, hull plating is designed to repel meteorites and act as an ablative shield for the ship, so it took at least three Tetramands with a specialized tool to bend them.

But the weird thing about the new mechanic was he always wore a hood and a jacket to hide most of his face and his whole body. But everyone could see the upturned red triangular light emitted from

A loud knock that caused a dent on his room's door snapped him back to reality. It had to be Cy, because the last time he knocked at a door, he busted the whole thing. "What!?" Matt half-shouted half-roared to the one behind the door. "I said I don't go out from here until we arrive to the base!"

"Mutt, we're here to pick a member of the Rebellion," another voice said, this one was not as friendly as Cy's. "Stop sulking and get out!"

Okay, if he was called 'Mutt' that had to be Lucian. Even Cy didn't call him mutt. "Hey, just because my human name is Matt, doesn't mean you can call me that!" Matt shouted back. "Anyway, the door won't open because Cy made a dent on it."

"Stand back, then," Cy friendly voice called back.

Matt brain didn't work it out fast enough, but his instinct worked the meaning of Cy instruction faster. His face turned from angry and annoyed to a mixture of anger and horror. "NO! DON'T BUST THE DOOR, YOU OVERGROWN TIN CAN OPENER!"

Too late, a loud _clang_ was heard when the door went flying from the frame and crashed on to of the human/Vulpimancer. Cy quickly extracted his new colleagues from the wreckage of the door. "ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME, YOU MONSTER!" Matt raged after Cy extracted him. "LUCIAN! WHY ON THE WORLD YOU RECRUITED HIM!!!"

Lucian chuckled slightly at Matt's outburst. "You see, I don't call him 'Strong-Arm Mechanic' for nothing," he said calmly. "A fugitive of law, yes, but weak an cunning? No. And Cy? That door repairmen is cut from your wages, okay?"

"I can see that," Matt said as he rubbed his sore head. "I thought my problem is gone when you decided to leave Ellie on that Jasmine care four months ago. But Cy is bigger problem than her. Literally."

"Well, I was about to say that Jasmine is coming onboard," Lucian said as he dropped a small mischievous wink. "Then we are going to earth to pick one of our best fighters."

Matt groaned painfully, more travel and less action was not his thing. He's been itching for a fight since the last two months, if this 'fighter' wanted to have a spar with him, he was most welcomed.

"Mind you, mutt, this fighter is a woman," Lucian added. "So mind your manners."

_Darn it__, which meant no sparring to stretch my muscle_. Matt thought disappointedly. "Then how am I going to train then?"

"Listen, Mutt, let me get you clear on one thing," the _Lunarcruiser_ captain said in a very serious tone. "There will be no sparring match between you and her, you got that?"

After Lucian left, Cy smirked before he whispered to Matt. "Do you think Lucian is a bit overprotective to this new woman?" he said mischievously.

"Maybe because that's his sister or something," Matt answered as he started walking to the kitchen.

"Lucian didn't have any relatives," Cy replied lightly. "His parents are killed in the Bloody Christmas Tragedy, and he's a single child.

Matt memory replayed the tragedy that happened five years ago at the Christmas Boxing Day. He was there at the tragedy with his squad, who acted as one of the peacekeeping squad.

_**Five years ago....**_

_**He was running through the explosions caused by the Andro Raider blasters. His senses was supplying him with anything he needed to survive, from the blasters' projection trajectory to where the where the explosions happened. The older Vulpimancers were running far ahead from him, occasionally making large leaps to avoid explosions. They all carried a coil of special wires that they had to put across the blasted landscape. The wire was almost invisible to the Vulpimancers because it has a very faint smell.**_

_**Andro Raider had attacked the planet Disardia IV for the third time. Each attack had taken a massive casualties and body count from both civilians and the armies.**_

_**His goal was clear: do not die. He had run for thirty kilometres to put the wires in place so the F.L.A.M.E Operations could be executed. But young adolscent old Vulpimancer endurance was no match for the older Vulpimancers. He ran as fast as he could, but his small body didn't want to go faster.**_

_**A blast sent**__** the young Vulpimancer flying through the air. Something cracked from beneath his chest. His four lungs were suddenly having a difficulty to take in any air. He grunted as he tried to got up as another explosion went up three meters from his body. He quickly got up from his helpless position, but he doubted that he could run anymore.**_

_**But he remembered that his order was clear. Major Ericson had told them again and again to not die under his charge. Even his superior was running around the battlefield putting up wires. And to his shock, he 'saw' Major Ericson putting up wires about thirty meters from himself.**_

_**The cadet mutt-like fighter could only gawk at his superior who was running with all his strength. The major then noticed the injured young Vulpimancer as he set another Point. **__**"What are you doing, private ----? GO, GO, GO!!" The Major bellowed on the top of his lung as he used his spear to hammer the wired pole to the ground. "I told everyone not to die if they are under my charge! So DON'T you dare to give up! RUN!!!"**_

_**The young Vulpimancer was about to help the Major to escape the chaos when Colonel Huzzarg the Long Tail, a seventy five year old Vulpimancer with an abnormally long tail picked the cadet Vulpimancer up on his back. The younger mutt-like alien made a series of protesting snarls as the Colonel carried him away from the brave Major, who was engulfed by the flame from a nearby explosion right after they left him.**_

_**The Colonel caught up with the squad and ran alongside the others older Vulpimancer, saying that the young cadet had done a great job putting up the wires. The Colonel's abnormally long tail gave him more balance while he made a leap, making him able to leap greater than anybody else in the squad. He made a leap, as the young cadet on his back threw the last wired pole to the ground with all strength he could muster from his injured body, which struck the ground like a spear.**_

_**(**__**POINT TEN THOUSANDS IS UP! F.L.A.M.E OPERATION COMMENCED!)**__** The**__**voice of the operator announces from the communicator. **__**(EVERY PERSONELS EVACUATE AREA IMMIDIATELY!)**_

_**The wires started to give off a **__**very high temperature. As Colonel Huzzarg made the last big leap, the whole landscape became the base of a flaming pillar. The pillar consumes the entire armada of Andro Raiders ships and in a matter of seconds, the whole armada was gone.**_

_**Experiment No. 899303, alias Heatflame Hellfire, one of the Ultimate Ten had put the military plan into action. Heat's destructive flame power was used to amplify the detonations of the Diaborite, a very unstable and explosive alloy, wires which in turn caused the pillar of fire to burst up to the sky. The victory for the Galliray army was sealed, until something goes very, very wrong.**_

_**Diaborite was one of a few materials that could invoke a nuclear fusion reaction. That was why the operation was never commenced before Heat was born even though the Andro Raider had destroyed hundreds of colonies. Heat was the only one who was able to keep the explosion from becoming a storm of nuclear reactions. But a storm was exactly what happened.**_

_**The reason was simple: backfire. The army had been too reckless by using Diaborite as the explosive material. The Diaborite caused chains of violent nuclear reactions which broke free from Heat's manipulating power and caused a heatwave that spread in the radius of three thousand kilometres, engulfing cities and colonies along the way and burned the innocent people to ashes. A minority of the army group managed to survived the ordeal by the help of Heat, who manipulated the flame so it will not touches the people that he could see.**_

_**But many perished along the way.**_

_**The young Vulpimancer couldn't believe his senses told his brain. The heat detecting sense had gone haywire because of the raging firestorm and caused him to go partially 'blind'. The sense of smell was attacked by the sharp smell of burning soil and flesh while his hearing was blocked by the roaring sound of the raging storm. His fur singed and started to catch on fire because of the intense heat that raged around him and his squad. He could sense that one by one, his comrade became the fuel for the raging flame storm.**_

_**The tragedy could only be described as mega-catastrophe. The body count exceeded five millions, from both civilians and the army side and the storm also Terra-Deformed the whole planet Disardia IV, making it the most barren and driest planet in the whole universe, completely inhabitable for any life form known.**_

_**And the memory would never leave a few brave souls who survived and stood as witnesses to the horror of that supposedly happy day of Christmas.**_

"That day, huh?" Matt muttered darkly. "I still had nightmares about that too..."

**III**

**Alia Eldritch**

Some horribly wrong people said that opposite attracts. But if you see Alia and Kid, you would be saying otherwise.

Both of them were stubborn, short-tempered, hot-blooded and hard-headed sort of teenager. A 'date' for them would always start with a fight and end with a kiss or an apology. Alia blamed Kid for being too arrogant and hot-headed while Kid said that Alia was too noisy and hard-headed. They gone as far as giving nicknames to one another like 'Mister Heartless' for Kid and 'Hard-head' for Alia.

Now, Kid was sitting in the Alia mansion's living room with an enraged Alia standing over him. And believe me, you wouldn't want to be in the same room as her when she was angry, even Leonardo retreated back to the staff room. "Explain yourself, Arthur Kid! Why did you disobey orders from the Councillor?!!" she shrieked on the top of her lungs. "YOU COULD GET YOURSELF KILLED!!!"

"What? The army doesn't kill me because they're to dead to do it, aren't they?" Kid said flatly as he looked the Alia's green eyes directly with his own prideful blue eyes. "The point is, I lived."

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT AT ALL!!"

"Yeah, yeah, stop screaming in my ear, darn it," Kid yawned heavily. "Look, I need to get some signing done after my founding, so can you let me go now? Finding a mass of dead body in a supposedly occupied planet required a lot of signing form."

Alia collapsed to the nearest armchair and broke down in tears. "I was so worried about you," she sobbed. "When I heard that you're heading there, I thought I lost you forever."

Kid quickly took a seat beside his sobbing lover and tried to comfort her. "Oh, c'mon Alia, my species is the best survivor in the Terrnalious Galaxy. You think I would die that easily?" he said, wiping the tears on Alia soft cheek. "C'mon, this is not the Hard-head I know, what have you done to the real Alia?" he remarked jokingly.

Alia rested her head on Kid's chest as she continued to sob lightly. As hot-headed and arrogant the cat-boy could be, his heart have several soft spots. Prod the soft spot in a right way and you would made him into a very selfless and caring person who would bow to anyone for help. Hit him wrongly, he would either become a super arrogant snob or a vicious and wild person.

"Anyway, Alia, General wanted me to write a report about the mass wipe-out that I found," Kid said as he pried Alia's sobbing frame. "God, I _hate _paperwork! Make my life miserable!"

Kid kept up his ranting even after he left with Edo the Metal Horse. Alia calmed herself down before she started to replay all things that Kid had told her in her mind. The Ectonurite army was utterly destroyed. Thirteen thousands Thep Khufans and two thousands Loboans were wiped out in just one night. Kid had brought some crystal shards and some charred flesh that he found on remains of the Ectonurite for her to see. She had Kuf and Leonardo examined the them while she threw her tantrum at the Marksmen Squad leader.

"So, Leo, what did you find?" Alia asked her loyal bodyguard later during the day as she sipped the tea he served.

"Yes, ma'am. First, the burned flesh didn't have any trace of fuel," Leonardo said as he offered more sugar to his charge. "Any fire-throwing weapon would leave a faint trace of fuel that is used to maintain the flame, so my hypothesis is the flame was caused by Pyronite, due to the extreme heat-caused damage the cell around the burn received."

"The crystal shards are organic because it contained the DNA of a Petrosapiens. Well, most of the DNA parts are Petrosapiens' anyway."

"What do you mean by 'most of the part'?"

Leonardo seemed uncertain at first, but he continued his explanation anyway. "I found parts of human DNA as well as parts that I could not recognize. The human parts that I found are only enough to construct a third of a human DNA strand, but I made a cross reference with our database and I found at least three matches," he said as he conjured a list from his suit's breast pocket. "First match is General Ericson Frontiere, with relevance of fifty-five percent."

Alia shook head. "Impossible, who's next?"

"Next is Experiment No. 265086, alias Swordmaster with relevance of sixty-five percent," Leonardo said as he ran down through his list.

"Unlikely, so who's the lucky last?"

Leonardo fell silent for so long it began to annoy Alia. "Tell me, Leonardo, or I'll have you fired!" she shouted, losing her temper at last after three minutes of silence.

"Last matches, with ninety-four relevance is...." Leonardo gulped. "Richardson Tennyson..."

**III**

**Won-Lee Li-Hyuan**

'What is the meaning of Leadership?', 'What made a true friend?', and 'What is love?' were the question that seemed to be so easy to answer, but cannot be answered through scientific means. These questions has also baffled mankind since the dawn of time

As a philosopher, Won-Lee, or Lee, had been seeking for the answer since his master asked the question. The question seemed to be so easy, but Lee had spent seven years searching for the answers and he never found it. Lee had always said that he would never be a kung-fu master if he didn't answer the three questions because a kung-fu master didn't only sought for worldly strength and power, but they also sought for truths of life.

Lee was a typical image of a humans' kung-fu master: red traditional Chinese attire, spiky black hair with a knee length pigtail wrapped in bandages and a pair of sharp black eyes _(his head was not shaved like monks)_. The only thing out of ordinary was a pair of small feathered wings in the place of his ear lobe. He's still sixteen years old, but he was already established as Colonel in the army and the leader of Galliray Investigation Squad. He was the smartest and the politest amongst the Seven Leader of Galliray Special Squad, but like anyone, he has weaknesses such as his tendency to get overconfident and his extreme shyness towards females.

A knock on the door stopped Lee from his reading. Instead of doing paperwork, like a proper Colonel should do, he was reading a thick book about philosophy while writing his own values and ideas. He also got sidetracked because he was so busy deciphering an ancient philosophy text and other artefact tablets. "Come in," he called to anyone behind the door.

The door swung open, admitting a blond man with partially spiky hair, and supporting carefree stares and grin. The man was smoking cigarettes while carrying a stack of paperwork on his left hand. "Captain Edward Storm reporting for duty, _sir_," he said with an emphasis on the word 'sir' as he set the paper he brought down on Lee's table. He then proceeds to dusting his blue military uniform from ashes from his cigarette. "Got sidetracked again, aren't we, _sir_?"

"Storm, don't call me '_sir_', it's annoying," Lee said wearily. "Great, more paperwork to be done, I haven't even finished the last one."

"Should I call Lieutenant Snipe to help you?"

"No, he just point a gun at my head until I finished with the paperwork," the young Colonel said. "Are we ready to mobilize the X-D Frigates fleet?"

"Lieutenant Snipe and Warrant Officer Fellgrand are overseeing the launch preparations," Edward said as he as he took out a box of cigarettes. "Want some, Colonel? It's time for you to try something new besides deciphering another text," he offered the cigarettes to the Colonel as put out his own.

"Uh… you do realize that technically, I'm still underage?" Lee said as he collected all his books. "I'm still seventeen; you could get arrested for offering cigarettes to an underage."

"Yeah, and not many people appreciate being beaten by a kid," Edward said as he saluted to the young Colonel. "Do finish that will you? Lieutenant Snipe is getting annoying."

Lee sighed. Edward Storm was one of his trusted subordinates alongside Lieutenant Elizabeth Snipe, Warrant Officer Armando Fellgrand, Officer Davidson Cedric, Maria Rose and Second Lieutenant Hail Frost. You would find it impossible to list anything that the young Colonel didn't entrust on his trusted subordinates, and vice-versa. But working with an investigative Colonel like him meant that his subordinates must move often and as the result, Edward always lose his girlfriend.

Lee switched his mind onto the Second Lieutenant, Hailin Frost, or Experiment No. 899302. He couldn't help but to think about how the experiments ever going to have a normal life after the war. How the other experiment will live normally. He knew that some of the experiments were normal people who get picked to be experimented upon while the rest were created from scratch. This led into two types of experiments classifications: Enhanced and Created.

The Created would have nowhere to go after the war because they were created from DNA. After the war, what they would do?

The Enhanced were people who get experimented on, so they might have a family. But Lee doubted that their family wanted anyone like them.

He then began doing his paperwork, keeping in mind that Lieutenant Snipe might be after his blood if he doesn't finish it. Frigates Fleet mobilizations forms were the thickest set of paper that he could find amongst the paper that now lay scattered around his desk. Three hours passed like an eternity when he was deprived from his ancient text and philosophy books.

The door suddenly banged open, revealing Edward Strom, who left the office five minutes ago. But this time, his face showed panic and urgency. "Colonel! Heatflame Hellfire was making an escape from the Exarion Detention Centre!"

"WHAT?! So you just receive the news just now!??"

"YES! Lieutenant Snipe just rushed past me and saying that a mysterious man blew up the cell that contained Heat," Storm said quickly. "Jump Nodes to Exarion are ready, Colonel, whenever you're ready."

"Stop making lame pun in this kind of situation," Lee said as he rushed out of his office.

**Heatflame Hellfire**

_Two hours ago...._

The wolf-faced prisoner was sitting in the darkness of his cold, airless, and cramped cell which barely high enough to accommodate his two and a half meter height. During the first two weeks of his sentence, he had tried to illuminate his cell using his flame, but it was short lived and with the power suppressant system, he was almost powerless.

Heatflame could be seen as a cross between lion, grizzly bear, antelope, and wolf. He had a face of a wolf with flame-coloured lion-like mane that reached all the way down to his waist and the same coloured beard underneath his lower jaw. His body was covered by a coat of short brown fur, a stark contrast with his mane. His head supported four large majestic horns; the longer ones on the top of his head formed a crest and curved toward his back like a ram's horns. The shorter ones which started just behind his temples were bent in a ninety degrees angle so the base was pointing to the side while the sharp end pointed forward. His grizzly bear-like traits were his long black claws, which were longer than a human pointer finger.

He stood up on his canine-like legs, each supporting paw with three fingers that has a long black claw on each one. He could walk this way, but he preferred to walk on all-four. He sniffed distastefully at his untouched food before he went back to his bed. He had thought many things over to pass time while he was in the prison. He was created from a fusion DNA, made mostly by combining the DNA from earth animals added with the genetic code of a Pyronite (_Heatblast, remember?_), which gave him his appearance and his power.

But the thing that he was most concern about was about his counter part, Hailin Frost. Hailin was seemed to in the most danger since she knew about the Galliray prototype of Super-Weapon: the Ragnarok Cannon. The cannon had the ability to fire a beam that could transverse throughout the universe and won't stop until it hit its designated target. Two shot from the Ragnarok Cannon could clear the planet from any form of live while the fourth shot would cause the planet to break into small asteroids.

This monstrous weapon was created to counter attack the Ectornurite Hypnos Engine. The details of the particular Super-Weapon were still classified by the Department of Intergalactic Security. But because now he was trapped here as the so-called 'invoker of catastrophe', his hope could only rely on other.

_I never told them to use such a instable material as an explosive, now he was getting blamed for obeying orders? That sucked,_ Heatflame thought as he laid himself on the metal bed. He had at least burned thirty normal bed before the prison guard decided that it would be the best if he got a metal bed with no blanket. Cold? What cold? Heat normal body temperature was seventy five degree Celsius, and he could subconsciously increase his body temperature to more than three thousand if he need to.

Suddenly his sensitive wolf ear picked out a noise of something being attached to the door of his cell. He smelled something that made his mane started to feel a little bit tingly, and only one thing could make his mane go all tingly: explosive things.

His excitement flared up as the he heard a ticking that resembled the ticking from a time bomb. Slowly but steadily, the flame-coloured mane started to burn into a real fire. His excitement was so great that he was confident that the power suppressant system wouldn't stand a chance against him.

The time bomb exploded, giving Heat more motivation as it go. A person in dark clothing emerged from the smokes and debris of the door. He looked human, but there was something off about him in both scent and aura. He sniffed the air again, thanks to his heightened sense of smell; he was able to distinguish one scent from another. _Yep, there's definitely something wrong about his scent. It was too... pleasant for a man_, Heat thought as he tried to grin, but only achieving a menacing fangs show-off.

The mysterious helper only motioned him to move. The wolf-faced creature doesn't need to be told twice to escape. Heat dropped on all four and ran through the ruins of his cell's door. Jail guards were swarming now, but they were easily cut down by Heat's grizzly claws. A phrase 'hot knife through butter' could describe on how easy Heat cut through the guards armour and weapon. The man who helped him escaped also helped by stabbing the guards using a small pocket knife.

Heat decided that it would be the best if he clear the way using what he liked most: explosion. So he gathered energy from his surrounding trough his flaming manes, which caused the temperature around him to severely drop. Soon his own and the mysterious man breath were visible. Heat gathered the energy and kept the heat that he usually produced to himself.

Heat golden eyes light up with the same coloured light as he spewed a jet of flames from his fanged mouth with ease, which meant that the power suppressant system was either offline or damaged. The guards didn't have any time to say 'ouch' because the flame turned them into baked guards in a matter of seconds. "I'm not called Heatflame for nothing, you know!" he gloated s he watched the guards ran away from him.

But his gloating was short-lived when an upward kick that hit him squarely on the jaw threw him off the ground. The one who delivered the kick was a young man with small feathery wings on the place of ears in red earth China attire, who regained his stance before Heat and his companion could do anything. Heat swiped at the man, only to have his hand blocked expertly so his claws didn't even touch the man.

His mysterious helper lunged at the Chinese man, opening the fight by a low sweeping kick. His opponent caught the feet with his left hand and using the momentum, the Chinese young man threw his opponent to the wall.

The scarf that hid the black-attired man came off as he hit the wall, revealing long pure white hair and a woman face underneath it. "Wait a minute, HE is a SHE!" Heat exclaimed as he got on his foot. "I knew there was something strange about him... I mean... her!"

"Yes, you got me, Heatflame. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Jasmine Stallingard, ordered to help you out of your prison," the young woman stated flatly. Her blood red eyes never left her opponent as they circled one another. "Now, would you mind helping me to take care of our young Colonel Li-Hyuan? The sooner we got out, the better it be. Explanation can wait."

"Sorry, but we got company of Frosty!" Heat shouted as he swiped his claws at another newcomer. This one was a beautiful young woman with long pale blue hair and snow-white skin. The air temperature drop further when the Second Lieutenant made her appearance, even Heat was having difficulty to move through the chilly air. "Or should I say, Hailin Frost," he sneered at the young woman.

"Heat, I'm sorry to say this, but I'm granted the permission to kill you if you resist," Hailin said coldly as an icy breeze started to blow. "Surrender or I'll have you killed."

"HA! Sorry to break your heart, sweet, your power is not designed to kill. Mine IS" the flaming wolf taunted, poking his tongue in a very childish way. "My power and yours are designed to cancel one another, so let's see who the best is!"

**III**

**Lilia Ariel**

"Lilith's coming? It's been a long time since she stepped on this house," Lilia commented softly when her mother told her about her older sister was coming home. "Why is she coming back now?"

"Her training is finished, so she had a chance of meeting her family again before her first mission," Lilia's mother replied as she prepared the table for her eldest child homecoming. "Tell Lila to be nice to her sister, okay?"

Lilith was Lilia older sister with a year gap between them. She, unlike Lilia, was eager to learn about how to fight and she was pretty good at it. Like Richard, she also uses sword, a Beam-Edged Sword, aided by her attack oriented spells to fight. The Headmaster or Professor Shard Lance sent her under the charge of Professor Amanda Reis to train her at the training facility at Alaska as a military trainee. Last time Lilia heard of her was three years ago, when Lilith sent a short note about how long before her training period end.

But Lila disliked Lilith because she left her younger sisters to escape the pain from their parents' separations. Lilia knew that Lilith was so hurt by their parent divorce that she refused to talk to them ever since. Lilith Anodite spell also changed alignment, from the balanced type to a pure attacker type of spells. And further references, Anodite spell alignment cannot just change like turning the palm of your hand. It needed a very great shock in order to make it changed from one type to another.

"Lilith, please don't be angry with mother...."

----

If Richardson Tennyson was the male star of the academy because of his influence and good looks, Lilia, Lilith, and Lila was once the female highlight of the academy for the looks reason too. But that was before Lilia becomes the school nurse, Lila being taken by their father, and Lilith departure to Alaska. They all bore resemblance to one or another by their features, their hair and eye colour, their personality, etc.

While Lilia had red hair with grey eyes and Lila had brown hair with amethyst-coloured eyes, Lilith has long brown hair that she tied into a braided ponytail and grey eyes. Like Lilia, she got a soft look on her eyes, which would turn into a Lila's hard-as-steel look if she got into fights. She might have a soft front, but she has a very tough heart. Lilia still remembered the day when Richardson and Victor were chased around by her older sister.

But that was before Richard changed of course.

Lilith put her suitcase on their room and changed into non-armoured attire. It was one of the rules their mother set for them that they had to be modest and polite, so she changed into a red dress with hanging sleeves and long skirt. She seated herself at the dinner table, even though she looked that she was not looking forward to talk to any of them.

It was the worst day that Lilia could imagine. Lila scowled silently every time she laid eyes on her eldest sister while their mother always looked sad and apologetic if Lilith was around. Lilia tried to talk to her, but all she got was a three word sentence: "leave me alone".

Personally, it saddened her to see how her family was laying in ruins. Precious memories about happy times with her family would stay as memory and a fantasy. Her father left for the war, and soon Lilith would join him. Lila, Lilith, and their mother still could not forgive each other. Everyone was blaming her for the lost of the Tennyson heir, what would be next on her line of misery?

They all went to bed after a gathering of silence. Lilith and Lilia share the same bedroom while Lila slept with their mother. Lilia silently cried when the bedroom light was turned off, a habit that she does more often recently as she clutched the picture of their family before the separations. The very picture made her felt happy and miserable at the same time because it reminded her about the happy time they spent together and the time when they parent decided to be divorced.

"Lilia?" Lilith sudden voice snapped her out of her thought. It was one o'clock on the morning as they lay inside the dark bedroom. "Are you crying?"

"…No I'm not," but her voice gave it away.

"I know that everybody is blaming you for Richard," Lilith said before pausing. "You love him, don't you?" she added with a mischievous tone.

"W...what?!"

'Maybe you don't remember this, but I did," Lilia could see that Lilith was grinning. "When you were four, when Richard first came here, you couldn't stop squalling over him and his dad has to hide him somewhere so you would stop bothering him.."

"Gee, did I do that? That's embarrassing..."

"I know, but have you thought about how he felt to you? He's a man that only think about objective," Lilith asked solemnly. "I'm also in the same trouble right now. I like a boy who, like Richard is now, only thinks about objective and achieving goals. But I fell in love with him in the first sight, like you too."

Lilia looked questioningly at her. "So here's a word of advice from me, Lilia," Lilith continued as she took out a photo and turned on the light. "Never be tired of waiting."

"Who is he? The one you like?" Lilia asked curiously as she edged closer to her older sister. "What's his name?"

"His name is Lucian Zorro,"

**III**

**Alexander March **

Believe me kid, Incarcecon was the worst place you would ever be. Why? Criminals everywhere, that's why. From the hardy muscled ones to cunning and lowlifes ones. From mugger to killer, everyone was there to serve their sentences.

Alexander put his scarf higher so it would completely cover the bottom half of his face. His sharp green eyes casually scanned the bustling crowd. No guards were placed in Incarcecon, and there would never be. Guards were expensive and demanding, the rule of the jungle would be enough to keep the prisoners happy. So he could quickly located every loophole on the facility before proceeding to his destination while keeping his eyes peeled for any threats he might encounter. His intelligent brain quickly formed a strategy of escape in case something gone wrong.

Even though he was walking on a place full of criminals, he somehow enjoyed the experience. Why? Because he could easily blend with the hardened criminals that inhabited the Incarcecon detention facility without having anybody throwing him a second glance even if some of them wondered why he looked so familiar. It's been a while since he could walk through a crowd without being noticed.

He took a left turn on the A-34 corridor after he unlocked the big fortified and reinforced Stellaroid alloy door. The corridor had dim lightning and it was almost deserted. No wonder, because the cells which were lined on the corridor wall contained some of the worst criminals and psychopath in the galaxy. Garry the Devourer, R.E.I, and Stenchmoth were just a series of little examples of psychopaths that inhabit the A-34 cells.

He stopped at a fortified cell containing a massive bear-like creature. Its head resembled a Loboan (_Benwolf_) with wider body and stronger arms and legs. And unlike a Loboan, its jaws were not quadro hinged. The creature was asleep when Alexander first approached its cell. But it quickly opened its fierce reddish-blue eyes and bolted upright while pounding the fortified plexiglass container until it cracked.

No surprise there.

"You never changed, Rhein," Alexander stated calmly. "Always bolting upright when anyone approaches you."

The reddish tinge on the beast eyes vanished in confusion. It coughed in a very polite way before he spoke, "May I ask a question?" the beast said in a very polite manner, a bit like the British gentlemen, really. "Who are you?"

"That's actually two questions you ask there, you Brit twit (_sorry for the British reader_)," Alexander said dismissively. "Drop the formality, Raphael Rhein. I'm here for business, not a tea party," he added as he looked around the other cells.

"Okay, you American Slacker (_Sorry for the American reader. Really, I'm sorry!_), what do you want?" Raphael asked back, dropping his polite manner for the more carefree one.

"How did you know I'm American?"

"No one else speak like a lazy gangster except the Americans." Raphael smirked with a phoney scrutinize look. "They also have known as 'conspiracy freak', because they come up with at least nine conspiracies theory at breakfast."

Alexander didn't even smile. "Stop being witty and let me get to the point. I've a deal to offer for you, in exchange for a bit of muscle," he said as he sat cross-legged on the floor. "One more punch on the plexiglass would help me talk better."

"Save the escape plot for a rainy day will you? I'm not getting out if that what you want," Raphael said nonchalantly. "I've been here for nine years, so this place is my home now."

"Rhein, this place is not a rehabilitation centre," Alexander stated calmly. "I know that your family kicked the bucket because of your power, but that does..."

Alexander's sentence was cut short by an angry outburst from the bear-like creature. "Yes it does!" Raphael raged, pounding the plexiglass once more, causing it to shatter around Alexander's ear. "I destroy a whole city! It was a good enough reason to send me here!"

"Not a good enough reason for you to keep refusing to go while your power can be used to save people," Alexander said, not remotely shocked by the massive creature's reaction. "Your remaining family is trying to help the world by going into the war against the Ectonurites. That's beats sitting around doing nothing while dirtbags went free."

Raphael stopped dead on his track. Alexander could see that the beast was thinking about what he just heard. After a considerably long pause, Raphael spoke rather grimly".... What's the deal?"

"I'll restrain you every time you gone mad, you'll be free and I'll let you see your family again," the scarfed figure said. "Don't give me that look; I'm strong enough to restrain you."

Alexander could see that Rhein was very nervous and happy ant the same time. Raphael had never seen his family since the rampage he threw ten years ago. It was a very good deal, so this mean that Alexander was in a whole lot of trouble. "My, that's a very good offer...." Racphael scratched his head nervously. "Ever heard the law of Equivalent trade?"

"Yeah, and as the matter of fact, I got into something very complicated," Alexander said calmly. "In a minute, you'll wish that I never drag you in this."

"Tell me quickly before I faint because of heart attack," Raphael said as he cradled his head on his arm.

"I'm here, to declare a war against the Galliray," Alexander said flatly. "And I need you to help me with it."

**III**

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_Personally, I think this chapter is the worst chapter I ever write._

_Review if you wanted some improvement on the next one._


	8. Chapter 8

_Sorry for the late update. The public internet in the library (which I often exploit to use the internet without paying) is still down and my own internet network is so darned slow and clunky. Anyway, Richardson Tennyson is dead... kidding, just kidding__ yo! :D. But he will not appear until the very late chapters. But he's hiding somewhere, so keep looking for him, alright?_

_Disclaimer: I have to be crazy to do this for every chapter. I don't own Ben 10, happy?_

* * *

_**Chapter 8**_

**Jasmine Stallingard**

Jasmine Stallingard had mastered three martial arts: karate, taekwondo, and the Caninoids' martial arts: Reinwolf. But Colonel Won-Lee, as he called, was using an unknown style of fighting. If her style involved slow swaying movements and circular pattern, his fighting style incorporated fast steady movements and straight move pattern. Swaying movements had its advantages because it was harder to block and made the user easier to evade attacks, but it did not have advantages of power.

She also had Reno, the base operator, to search for any information that would help her on letting Heatflame Hellfire to escape three month prior to mission. The annoying jerk managed to obtain the blue-print of the detention facility in just five minutes, along with other necessary information she might need along the way. He also warned her about several high ranking officers that might rush in during the execution of the plan.

And the most annoying fact was he warned him about Colonel Won-Lee Li-Hyuan and Lieutenant Hailin Frost. He even informed her about the possible weakness and strength of the high ranked officer and stated every possible way to defeat, _but_, she had deliberately ignored his annoying lecture which proved to be highly useable in this kind of situations. She could literally hear the redhead saying 'what did I tell ya? I'm a bad man, yo'. Okay, so it wasn't exactly an 'I told you so', but it was close enough _and_ more annoying.

She took out her pocket knife, which she had use as her main weapon as Won-Lee conjured a long spear from his sleeve, which mean his sleeves were a Four-Dimensional Storage System in disguise. This rare system could store literally everything inside it, even a Carrier-Class ship. The white haired young woman then countered the side-strike from the spear with the blade of the knife, it wasn't effective, but enough to avoid getting her skull cracked.

Won-Lee didn't stop or showed any sign of mercy. He seemed to be an expert at jump techniques and kicks which was aided by his spear because it acted as a pole to increase the power and height of his jump. Jasmine could literally feel the wind and heard it whistle that that Won-Lee created each time he attacked and that was bad. If her opponent succeeded on landing a hit on her it would certainly break her bone or, if he struck her pressure point, it could be even worse than a broken bone.

Heatflame couldn't help either, he was busy exchanging hit and elemental attacks with a pale young woman with blue hair. Heat attacks consisted of lunging, swiping, and pouncing like a wolf or a grizzly bear while Hailin's attacks were gracefully delivered without balling her smooth hand into fist. Jasmine could smell the burning metal and felt her hair drying out as Heat emitted a stupendous amount of heat from his body which was countered by the icy temperature that Hailin produced. The clash between Heat's flame power and Hailin's frost power also created some kind of electrical charge that slowly, but steadily built on the air. Jasmine already felt the stinging of the electricity on her delicate skin. It won't be long before the static electricity zaps them all.

Won-Lee made another upward kick, which barely missed his opponent chin. Jasmine retaliated by a low-sweeping kick, which was easily blocked by the Colonel.

Jasmine switched the knife to her left hand and made a series of stabbing movements, a unique technique from the Reinwolf arts. Won-Lee dodged them with such ease and precision that the knife's blade was only three millimetres from his skin each time he dodged. The young woman noticed that this was done so he didn't waste energy on making unnecessary movements and gives him advantages of making quick attack.

_I've heard that he was an expert_, Jasmine thought as she made a back-flip to avoid an upward swipe-like attack. _But saying 'expert' is an understatement right now!_

Jasmine's widened as she spotted an opening on the Colonel's seemingly perfect movement. It was located around the collarbone which was loosely guarded. She thrust the knife with all strength she could muster, only to have her hand blocked and twisted painfully by the young Colonel. "Reaching for enemy weakness made yourself open for attack," Won-Lee said wisely. "I'll give you two choices, surrender, or I'll have to hurt you more than this."

Won-Lee's expression didn't match his threats. His expression was an expression of a teenager on their first date and his hold was loosened when Jasmine glared at him. She easily broke free from his grasp and took a battle stance. Now she could see that the Colonel face was furiously red.

Then she remembered a conversation she had with Reno when he gave her the mission. A conversation that she almost ignored completely.

_Three months ago..._

"'_Kay, Jasmine, Colonel Lee is a Rank Ten Martial Art Master, which mean he probably fully mastered tons of martial arts. Heavy duty black belts and only one step away from being a Sage," Reno explained idly."You are still Rank Three Master, are you sure 'bout this?"_

"_Dead sure," Jasmine replied, even though the prospect of facing a person that was only one step away from having the highest rank amongst__ martial artist community didn't not excite her at all. A martial artist started as Students, then advances through Apprentice, Master Apprentice, Graduate, Master, and Sage. Each of the title, except Sage, has ten ranks which had to be surpassed if you wanted to get a new title. "Just give me his weaknesses and I'll..."_

"_Wow, wow, wow, easy there. Won-__Lee only has two weaknesses and that ain't gonna be easy to use them to clobber 'im," Reno said, putting another piece of chopped whale meat on his mouth. "But did ya know why Rufus send you instead of the mighty and handsome me?"_

"_Because you slack__ed off on the job again so Rufus told you to stay?" Jasmine smirked on her own witty remark that had hit Reno right on the spot. "Am I right?"_

"_Yeah, that and__ because you're a girl," Reno explained, winking naughtily. "A cute one too."_

"_Oh, you pervert," and with that, Jasmine give the redhead a good hit on the head. Well, it was a kick actually and it left the Base Operator sprawled on the ground._

"_I'm not joking," Reno said__ after he got up from the cold floor in a half-serious tone and trying to pull his most serious face, which still has his trademarked annoying grin. It was a real breakthrough for the base operator, though. Putting his serious face usually made him sick for three days."See? _This_ is my serious face, which means I'm not joking around. If Lee is up against a woman, he held back himself until he was equal to a Rank Five Master. I know you think this is an another episode of Reno's Believe It or Don't, but it's true, Rufus told me that. And when is the last time he's been lying?"_

"_So you sent me because he'll shy away from me?"_

"_Much worse, kiss him, just on the cheek, and he'll nosebleed like crazy. Like what happen when Lieutenant Elizabeth Snipe did when she wanted to punish him."_

A mischievous smile formed at Jasmine mouth, Reno had told her that the Colonel was extremely shy towards women and tried to hold back, which was proven because Jasmine felt that she was fighting with a Rank Five instead of a Rank Ten. But she did not expect that his shyness reached this kind of extreme. A new strategy formed in her mind and she didn't waste a second to put it on effect.

Jasmine aimed a flat footed kick to Won-Lee. The Colonel could barely block the kick so he chose to put some distance between them. His moves are degrading as well as his ability to block attacks. Jasmine could see that he was now at the level of a Rank Two Master and he didn't launch any attacks anymore. Jasmine smirked deviously as she closed in to the young Colonel.

She struck with the knife again, but this time, she kept the striking distance close to herself. Lee blocked it by tilting his head sideway and grabbed Jasmine's wrist to divert the knife from his face. Jasmine used the blocking position to position her face close to the Colonel. Then she gave her a light kiss on the Colonel's cheek.

The result was immediate and beyond her expectation because not a trickle, but a spray of blood from one of his nostrils rained down like a fire hydrant nose, literally. It stained Jasmine's white hair before the young Colonel collapsed, blushing like mad and muttering something that suspiciously sounded like 'embarrassing' over and over again. "Wow, that was unexpected," Jasmine said, arching an eyebrow. "Reno is not wrong with that one, isn't he? I'll to thank him for this."

She looked over to Heatflame, which was standing over the injured form of Hailin, but his expression was far from happy or relieved.

It was an expression of a person paralysed by fear. Heat was staring at a smiling, friendly-looking and somewhat goofy young human teenager with golden hair and golden eyes, no older than fifteen or sixteen in appearance and holding a lunch box laden with food on his left hand. He carried a gigantic sword-like weapon on his back, which doubtlessly a BeamBlade. The part about gigantic BeamBlade was dangerous enough, but Heat's fear-filled eyes told her that there was something wrong

"bhuelluo, bheaeat (_Hello, Heat_)," the teenager said cheerfully through a mouthful of food. He swallowed the food in his mouth before he continued. "Long time no see, I guess?"

"... Jasmine, run! Whatever you do, don't look back and run!" Heat ordered as he instantly transformed into a smaller and thinner horned wolf with the same flame-coloured mane, but his hands and feet transformed into padded paws and he also sprouted a tail with a real flame on the tip of it. The transformations happened so fast that nobody would ever catch the transformation process. "Get on my back, I'll explain as we runaway!"

Jasmine obliged even though she didn't see any serious threat. Heat's new form, although smaller, still has the shoulder height around one and a half meter tall. Jasmine managed to grab hold of the horns before the scarred fire creature started running. "Why are we running? He didn't pose any threat!" she shouted.

"No threat? NO THREAT? That's Dragonmaster! He's a super threat!" Heat replied fiercely. "Ever wonders why we won the Battle of Santurion, the most hopeless battle against the Ectonurite? You know who slaughtered the twenty thousand units that day?"

"No," Jasmine replied idly.

**Heatflame Hellfire**

"It was him that slaughtered twenty thousand unit from the Ectonurite army. He's the 'Immortality Experiment'."

"Immortality?"

"Yeah, try sticking up a knife at his head, he won't die, he won't even feel a thing. He was famous because a wise general would order his or her troops to flee at the sight of Dragonmaster amongst the enemy rank," Heat said as he kept on his pace. "He might look like a teenager, but it was normal, he's a teenager for quite a while now."

Jasmine's grip on his mane tightened as Heat made a sharp turn. "Just how long 'quite a while' is?" she asked, although Heat got a feeling that she was asking a trick question.

"Sixty five years, he only took that adolescent form because he liked it. If he wanted to look like an adult or an old man, he can too," he replied. Heat could literally smell his saviour disbelief when he said the previous statement. "I know, I know, you wanted to say immortality is impossible. But 'being immortal' in scientific point of view is just making your body continuously regenerate themselves, and some species had actually done it."

"Each cell in our body could only split in limited amount of time, thirty six times on human, to be exact. In Dragonmaster's case, his cell could split up in unlimited amount of repetition and thousand times faster like the Thep Khufan and Florauna (_Wildvine_) combined together, therefore, stop him from aging and grant him the immortality. In addition of not aging and not dying, he also cannot feel pain, immune to any diseases and poisons known, change his appearance, and have beyond superhero level amount of stamina," Heat explained. "Believe me; you wouldn't want him to go against you."

"Oh yeah?" said the Dragonmaster cheerfully. "Don't you think you said too much, Brigadier General Hellfire?"

Heat almost had a heart attack when he saw that Dragonmaster was running alongside them with ease and still keeping his smiling and laughing face. "You know, I have a real name. Dragonmaster is my experiment name and I don't like it," he said. "At all," he added after an afterthought.

Jasmine threw her knife at him, which struck the young-looking Dragonmaster on his temple, but he didn't even flinch. He took the bloodied knife off his head and threw it carelessly over his shoulder and at the same time, the wound was rapidly closing. The wound closes in just one second after it was made with absolutely no trace of any injuries. "Uhh, you know that playing with knife is dangerous, right? So please don't throw knife at me, save me the trouble from regenerating," he said lightly with a slightly disappointed face as Jasmine stared at him in a mixture of disbelief and horror. "And staring at people is not polite and unladylike, you know."

He then reached for the immense BeamBlade from his back. Heat knew what's coming so he switched from Speed form to his Heavy or the form that he usually uses, to take advantage of the distraction Jasmine created. He caught an overhead pipe to stop him instantly so he could make an extremely tight left turn. The Hangar No. 3 was only two hundred meters from this point so he switched to Speed form again.

But the Dragonmaster was instantly materialized right in front of him and he was not smiling anymore. His golden eyes glared with a glare that made Heat's body unable to move. He didn't waste any time to unsheathe his oversized weapon and with a movement that even Heat's sharp eyes could barely see, he seal down the exit by collapsing the ceiling of the corridor.

The immortal teenager sighed as he put the sword down on the floor while he himself was taking a relaxed sitting position. "It's been a while since I use _First Blade_," he said in a light tone that didn't reach his dead serious eyes. "For further references, I don't use _First Blade_ for anything but to kill."

"Oh yeah?" a new voice sneered from behind the Dragonmaster. It was a human around fifteen or seventeen year-old, wearing a ragged cloak and glaring with a glare that would surely send adult human to bed with their teddy bear. But the humans supported gills-like slits on his neck and a pair of large blunt fangs protruding from his lower jaws."Well, Experiment Dragonmaster, I'm afraid I'm taking Brigadier General Hellfire and that girl with me."

**III**

**Reno Levin**

"_Met the North Base Operator_, he says," Reno quoted the Rebellion leader's saying scathingly as he drove his extensively modified car through the Atlantic Ocean. "Don't he have the idea that I hate that guy?!"

Reno's car, the _Blue Lightning_ was an old model of Holden Colorado with some extensive modification such as collapsible wings like the _Red Strike_ have, levitator to help it fly, _Nimbus 8_ double engines, indestructible metal wheel covering that could be used to cross a river of molten lava, motorized grappling hook, and many other useful modifications. Aaron marvelled at how the South Base Operator managed to find spare time to build the car while operating the base, briefing agents, and hunting for food. Or was it just a sign of him slacking off during the job?

The North Base Operator was almost the exact opposite of Reno. He was calm and considerate, but his temper was as short as the height of a toddler. He would react instinctively if somebody said the word 'strange' or 'freak', no matter on what context those words were put in. For example, he became livid when you say 'this food tastes strange'.

Here's why he acted like that: he possessed a wide array of mind-related powers and abilities. He could read mind, move objects only by thinking about it, create a transparent barrier, levitate, you name it. The last time the Levin had a fight with him, he beat the schnoz out of the redhead without even touching him. Beside the mind-power, the North Operator also has a super-human speed, reflexes, and agility. Not quite a Kineceleran (_XLR8_), but close to a very, very fast cheetah.

The radio receiver on the dashboard crackled after another three hours of flying and it started receiving the voice from the North Base Operator. "Hey, Reno, long time no see," the calm but sarcastic voice said from the receiver. "Rufus told me already, and I've read your mind too. Don't waste your breath."

"How on Hell can you read my mind? I'm still thirty five kilometres from your strange head!"

"DON'T SAY STRANGE!" the voice yelled angrily from the receiver. "Anyway, I could read mind in the radius of forty kilometres if I had to, remember?"

"Yeah, that was cool, Silver, but don't do it, it's just freaky," Reno said scathingly. "I don't want my head being invaded by some freaky hedgehog-headed punk!"

"DON'T SAY FREAKY EITHER, YOU STUPID PONYTAIL JERK!!!"

"What?! Like your hedgehog head is any better!!!"

"I'm not a hedgehog, you jerk!"

"What's that ruckus all about?" Aaron said as he yawned sleepily. He had been sleeping ever since they left the South Pole. "Hedgy, Taily, shadup, I want to sleep...."

"DON'T BUTT IN TO OUR BUSINESS YOU LITTLE AMATEUR!" Silver and Reno shouted fiercely at the gunslinger, which was responded by a wide yawn and a snore.

**III**

Silver was an Experiment. Experiment no. 122123 or Psychic Experiment to be exact. He ran away from the experiment facility five years ago and met Reno and Rufus on earth. Reno and Silver quickly developed a rivalry because of their skill at handling computers and constructing vehicles. Reno's absorbing power and Silver's mind power also became the base of their fierce, far-from-friendly rivalry.

Silver was typing on the computer using his telekinetic power while facing Reno and Aaron and cook their meal at the small kitchen using his power. Like Reno, he was wearing a black suit over a white shirt, but he wore a tie and neatly buttoned the coat so he looked like a hitman more than anything if he wore a sunglasses. "Okay, Reno, this is your brother, tell me all about him," Silver said. "Or I could read your mind again? Save my ear from trouble."

"Okay, where do I start?" Reno said in a sing-a-song voice. "Lemme see...ISN'T THAT OBVIOUS!! He's a goddamned killer and he's out there looking for my step-cousins!!!"

His outburst was answered by an invisible force that slammed him on his face. Shortly afterward, Silver was holding his hand right in front of Reno's face and began to read his mind. Reno knew because he saw flashes of his memories as Silver went through his memories and thoughts. "Okay, Silverware, cut that out. You're invading my private zone."

Silver's spiky white-gray hair rustled as he shook his head in dismay. "Seriously, I could beat you up like before, wimp," he said, waving a hand to summon a cup of coffee from the kitchen, which he drank without even touching the glass because his power acted as a hand to him. "Recently, your brother had killed three agents that were put under my command..."

"Your command? I thought Base Operator only brief and debrief the agents!"

"That's what you get because you're slacking off. You got five agents under your charge and you didn't even notice it?" Silver said as if having subordinates was nothing to him. "Aaron, Lucian, Jasmine, Cy, and now-missing-Tennyson are all under your charge, stupid."

"Oh, so I could tell them to clean my house then?"

"That's... is an abuse of authority and I don't think Richard would be pleased to clean your house," Aaron chided in, clearly revolted by the idea of cleaning Reno's home. "Anyway, you don't have a house. Back to business."

Silver stood from his seat and levitated his way the apparently self-typing computer. Silver didn't do a lot of walking on his feet because he preferred to levitate himself using this power to increase the speed of his movement. But he got strong foot because he kept exercising them even thought he didn't use them to walk much. "Your brother is out to kill two remaining Tennyson. But why did he kill my agents? It just don't sum up," he said thoughtfully. "However, we got a more pressing matter in hand right now,"

"A person named Alexander had agreed to help us. He found a way to trace your brother from his last sighting site. I know you're excited, but calm down. He wanted to work alone with is partner, Edward Rhein..."

"Wait a cotton picking minute, Edward Rhein? You can't be serious," Aaron exclaimed nervously. "Edward Rhein destroyed a whole city in one attack, right? Nobody in their right mind would work alongside him."

"Alexander is a possible mercenary. No mercenary had a right mind, remember?" Silver stated flatly, remembering his days as a mercenary. "The problem is, he maintained silence when we asked for his motive and he is a mentally aware person, so he knew if I tried reading his mind, and he has a very strong mental resilience, so telepathic interrogation was useless against him. That's where the problem is; Rufus said he needed watching because we are not sure about his motives."

An unnatural wry expression crept on Reno's usually-jovial face, although his face still has the vivid ghost of his usual grin. "So you're going to put me for the job?"

Silver nodded, heaving a heavy sigh in the process. "I've managed to put a Mental Marker on him, which enable me to track him no matter where he went unless he's dead," he said. "Reno, I could lend you a bit of my power if you're willing. It'll help you to accomplish your objectives. It's not enough to do anything, but enough for you to trace him."

"You will be transferred on Bellwood Base, your replacement for the North Base is already on his way," Silver added when he spotted Reno's worried expression. "I thought would like to leave that iceland."

"I like to, but Bellwood meant I would be very, very close to that... woman."

Silver only stared with his eerie silver-irises eyes. "Lilia Ariel is innocent. The missing of the Tennyson is an event beyond her control," he said wryly. "I thought 'grin and forgive' is your specialty, Reno."

"I don't know... it's just very hard ever since Richard's gone. He's like my cousin, remember? His ancestor adopted mine and it made him and me a family."

A great silence weighted upon all of them until Aaron childish streak kicked in. "Great, it's a month before Christmas, and we're stuck with some weird mission," Aaron complained loudly, obtaining a furious 'HEY!!' from Silver. "It's like Rufus hate us."

"No, he hate Reno, not us," Silver said flatly. "Make sure you remember that."

**III**

**Lila**** Ariel**

"Lila, are you done with the paper decoration yet?" Lilia said as she decorated their pine tree with fairy lights.

The youngest of all Ariel shook her head as her delicate fingers worked furiously to finish the paper decorations for Christmas. The three sisters were preparing for the Christmas day, even Lilith agreed to stay until the New Year Eve to celebrate the holiday with her family.

Lila had a lot of thing in mind than just making paper decoration, but because her lack of ability of speech, she developed a habit of hiding her trouble within her eternal silence. Unless somebody read her mind, she could hide her problems forever.

First, their father won't come home for Christmas. Second, it has something to do with teenaged boy she met during her holiday shopping.

The redheaded boy had saved her from getting hit by a passing car by kicking her out of the way. At first, Lila was angry at him but when she saw the he was actually saving her from getting gravely injured and getting himself a glancing hit from the truck. She felt sorry for herself because she couldn't say 'sorry' or 'thank you' to him for saving her and getting injured in her place. Since then, she could not stop thinking about him and each time his face flashed through her mind, it made her blush.

Lilia however, seemed to be afraid of the new person while the boy, whom Lilia addressed as Reno, didn't seemed to like her at all. In fact, it seemed that Reno _hated_ her and he also used his unpleasant attitude on both of Lilia's sisters.

"Lila, are you sick? Your face is all red," Lilith voice snapped the fourteen-year-old back to reality. "You're a bit warm too, maybe you should rest."

Lila shook her head and pulled Lilith's hand into her own hands. Even though she disliked Lilith for many reason, she had to admit that Lilith was a perfect role-model for all of her sisters. 'Lilith, can I trust you with my secrets?' she traced to Lilith hardened hand. Lila noticed that her eldest sister's hand was filled with blisters and old scars and had hardened skin. It maybe caused by her training or because of her habit of wielding her weapon without gloves. 'Don't Lilia, okay?'

"Okay," Lilith said reassuringly. "You have a crush on someone, don't you?"

Lilith smiled gently when Lila's eyes widened in shock. 'How did you know?' the taciturn girl asked using sign language. 'I've never told you.'

"Well, you started acting like this since that redhead took you home. He complained to me later about why did I leave my youngest sister to walk on a car-laden street by herself," Lilith explained, scratching her cheek as she chuckled slightly. "His exact words are '_Are you out of your tree there!? Don't ever leave your dopey younger sister to stroll around the goddamned street while it was armed with goddarned trucks that wanted to kiss her! Next time, try to watch over her, _if_ there is next time!_'" she imitated the redhead complain.

Lila was awestruck, this Reno did not only save her from being hit by a car, but also lodged a violent complain to ensure her safety for next time. "I know, he sounded a bit harsh and swear a lot, but his intention was good and even I could tell that he's kind hearted," Lilith chuckled. "I know him too. You're too young to remember about the Levin family who lived next door to us ten years ago. They moved soon after the war had started and I've never heard about them until now."

'Is he going to school?'

"I don't know, but he might be," Lilith said. "But there's two weeks left of school, we'll find out soon enough."

**III**

**Victor Valiant**

The Headmaster was doing his bad habit again. He put two new students into the sparring arena the day they start attending the school. One of the students was Reno, the one that almost killed Lilia months ago and the second was an eighteen year old brunette from French National Sports Institution named Jean Luc Francis.

Reno was fighting against Jean at this very moment. He was using a collapsible staff while Pier was fighting using a baseball bat that he wielded like a sword and a hockey stick that he use like a short spear. Jean might look stupid by using sports utility to fight, but he was very, very good at using them. Reno often has a very close call when he countered the attacks.

"That French man is good," GEO-1111 said with his usual flat computerized voice. "I've never seen a person that fights like him."

"Yeah, but baseball and hockey seasons is over," Victor remarked jokingly. "Anyway, Jean seemed to be avoiding Reno's touches too. I wonder why."

"He's a Levin, am I right?" GEO-1111 said, obtaining a nod from the Transyllian. "The Levin's family power is inherited by genetic, so I'm not surprise if he could absorb power and energy by touch."

"Yeah, but Jean looks awfully normal to me," the Frankenstein-alien said as Reno blocked another attack from Pier's hockey stick. "But I'm very surprise that the missing Levin is suddenly appeared out of nowhere and started to live here."

"I know, since his last appearance on the Tennyson's hospital room, no one ever seen him again until now," GEO-1111 replied, scratching his 'chin' in a thoughtful way. "It's like he only surfaces when he wanted to and vanish out of the existence for the rest of the time."

"Yep," Victor said. There were things that concerned him far more greatly than how Reno always gone missing. The Headmaster had called him in during the third period and informed him about his assignment. At first, he was sure that no one, except the Headmaster knew about him being an agent for the rebellion movement against the Galliray. But the Headmaster revealed that Richard was an agent when he had gone missing.

The Headmaster told the Transyllian that his best friend hold an important data with him. So as everybody could guess, Victor was assigned to track his best friend down. He was obliged to give report about his progress in a monthly basis, and his reports didn't show any sign of finding the missing key agent. Victor knew that if Richard didn't want to be found, finding him is like talking to a rock and hoping that the rock would reply back. Try to look at his home, it stayed in a complete lock-down, armed and dangerous, and nobody would ever had a chance on hacking the main system of the Tennyson resident. Richard could be hiding there, but the only way to open the home was demolishing it, which was impossible too because Richard had installed defence turrets on the building.

The major problem around here was the lack of clues that the Tennyson left. If there was any, it would be nicely secured on his home or the Tennyson Headquarter near Mount Rushmore. Victor also has a concern about the massive energy reading he had picked up when he scanned the Tennyson Resident for any trace of energy. One reading came from the reactor that powered the resident, but the other come from a rather small object. A human sized object actually.

"Hey, GEO, I'm off to see the Teacher Lounge," Victor said after a slight pause. "I need to give some report to the teacher."

GEO looked at him with his unreadable 'eye'. Victor was sure that the GEOGalvanic was suspicious, but he was so good at hiding it. "Well, go on then, I'll tell you the verdict of this fight later."

Victor left the arena immediately. But when he passed to one of the corridor, he felt a cold sensation. It felt like a supernatural being that human called as 'ghost' had just past through him. He looked back and almost jumped because he saw the Russian student, Nichov Stallingard, was walking towards the opposite direction. Victor swore that he never saw him coming from in front of him and the corridor didn't have any door on them. He could not possibly come of nowhere, wasn't he? Unless Nichov had teleportation ability but the Caninoids certainly didn't posses that kind of ability.

Victor shook the cold sensations off, literally. He made a mental note to avoid this particular transferred student. Not just because his strength, but because of Nichov maxed out creepy factors.

The infirmary door lies on the end of the corridor. The door was locked, indicated by the red light on the door lock module. That was unusual to have the infirmary locked during the day.

Victor didn't mind much because Lilia was probably changing her clothes because there was a badly injured patient after the day first Sparing match. Bu then he felt that his iron boots stepped on some thick liquid.

Victor looked up, he thought that the liquid come from the cooling system. But when he looked down, it was clear that it was not the cooling liquid or slime. He was standing on the pool of blood that flowed from the infirmary door. The blood have luminous blue specks which emitted sparks of bluish light before it turned into blood red colour.

"Why Anodite's mana is in the blood? How un...! Lilia!"

**III**

* * *

_Happy __Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone! I've made my New Year resolution already: Read at least five hundred pages from any books in a week and write two thousand words for every three days, typed or handwritten. I know you think I'm raving crazy or something, but this is necessary if you want me to improve this story and if you say that I'm mad or something, thank you._

_An__yway, Jean Luc Francis iz a vry, vry importante charactre for zis ztory. __(__Sorry for the uneducated French accent, I'll stop now) How? Wait and see, me hearties, wait and see._

_Anyway, any critiques are accepted, even the most breaking and sinister ones. But if you send me flame or spam, I'll curse you with endless nagging mails and flames._

_Oh, last thing last; this fic is adapted as a webcomic by Whitestar Legacy. You could check it out on Whitestar Legacy's Deviantart account. (Yes, I'm advertising the comic, anyone complain?) __Or you could find the link could be found on Whitestar's profile page._


	9. Chapter 9

_.... I don't have the right to say anything more than necessary. I updated so late that it is right for everyone to put me on their hate-list._

_Disclaimer: __I don't own Ben 10._

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Chapter 9

**Lilia Ariel**

_Gate. White expanses. Herself...._

Lilia woke up in a white room of a hospital. She recognized the room as the very same room that Richard occupied before he went missing. On her bedside, Lila and her mother was staring at her with relief while a familiar redheaded male was talking animatedly with the large Frankenstein-like figure that she figured as Victor at the door. "Lilia, how do you feel, sweetie?" her mother asked.

"I'm... I'm fine, mother, mum," Lilia said groggily. A sharp stab of pain on her stomach and chest preventing her from making any movement, let alone sit.

"Ah, so you woke up," Reno said dismissively. "Lucky that Vic here got you before you bleed to death. What kind of nurse that cut herself with a scalpel so bad like _that_? Or is it just me, or you're attacked?"

Cecilia, Lilia's mother, snapped her head to Reno's directions. "You mean my daughter is attacked by one of the _students_?" she said sharply.

"Always think that everything is possible ma'm. But it's not necessarily a_ student_. It could be anyone...." he trailed as he took out a book from his black, uncared suit. "Let's see. Your wound, Ariel, is narrow stab wounds, possibly caused by a specially modified knife, dipped with Halosinion poison to stop your mana from automatically healing your wound. Not many people knew how to do this, or even have the skill to handle Halosinion."

"How did you...?!"

"I worked part-time for four years in a weapon chemical factory, happy? I know all kind of chemicals, including the most dangerous poisons known," he snapped, both at Lily and the book shut. Lilia, however, stared at him right on his eyes and she knew that he was lying.

But she didn't know how.

"But there's something weird about your accident, too. Your womb and parts of your digestive system vanished, but doctor said that there's no sign of removal whatsoever," her mother said rather sadly. "They say it's very stra..."

Before Lilia could take the last bit of information in, something was creeping its way up in her throat and she had no choice but to vomit. Blood was the only thing that came out from her mouth and it left her feeling very weak. Lila quickly gave her a glass of water to soothe her burning throat.

"Yep, a large portion your digestive system is gone, meaning that you would do that every now and then and you'll have to eat a very soft food, so get use to it," Reno said offhandedly. "Halosinion are known to digest internal organs, so only the First-Grade members of assassin squad, which is under the control of Galliray, was able to use that poison," he said, carefully emphasising the word 'assassin' and 'Galliray' before he scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm... curious isn't it?" he said.

"Oh, don't mind me, I'm just thinking out loud," he added when he saw the eldest woman in the room looked at him with a strange stare.

"Err... if you're thinking, why do you make a suggestive statement?" Victor asked, raising his eyebrow. "I mean, isn't that a bit ridiculous? Assassin squad are only used to kill enemy's leader, right?"

"Yeah, but try to put yourself in a strategist mind my big, ol' pal: Richardson Tennyson, the most influential, attractive, genius, and somewhat dangerous and bitter person, and Lilia Ariel, an almost harmless young girl and a very close friend to him. Hurting her is definitely easier than hurting Richard plus you get something to lure Tennyson in," Reno said nodding to Lilia's direction. She felt a cold stab in her heart when Reno stated that she was a close 'friend'. What he was saying was true and there was no way of denying it. "What's more, you gain advantage of hostages over him, and like any little good tacticians and strategists know, every little advantage could change the course of the battle. ... Wait a cotton picking minute, I sound exactly like Richard, am I? Man, I definitely had to stop doin' that."

"He got a point there," a deeper, bemused voice, owned by Professor Shard Lance stated matter-of-factly. He was leaning on the door frame with a serious and bemused expression in his broad, crystalline (_literally_) face. "The Tennyson family are amongst the people that could mobilize all Earth's military forces to take an offensive stance. And the Galliray Council Members are desperate to get his influence back. I'm not trying to antagonize, but I think they will use any way available to do that, including assassination and an all-out assault on Earth."

"Yep, once they mobilize the Seven Divisions, namely Dragon Division against Earth's Unified Nations (_E.U.N_), we'll be able to stop them when the hell freezes over," Reno agreed, nodding as he got up from his chair. "Well, if you excuse me, I got to call Nimbus."

Lilia watched him left the room. Strangely, she felt the Levin's emotion when he was leaving: bitter and rueful. Rueful because he couldn't do anything and bitter because he remembered about his missing step-cousin.

She suddenly frowned. '_Wait a minute, since when I know about this?_' she thought. Even mana had its limitation, and mind reading was one of that limits.

'_Don't worry..._' a soothing voice said in her mind. The voice somehow made all her worries disappear, so she decided to settle back to her sleep. The last thing she remembered before she fallen into the oblivion was her mother's worried face.

'_It's alright..._'

**IXI**

She woke up when the night had fallen. She turned her head to the left and spotted the sleeping figures of her mother and sister. Bright moonlight entered the room, filtered by the window. Noticing this, Lilia turned her gaze to the window, relishing the sight of the full moon.

She always admired the beauty of the moon and how it made the hardest heart soften. She often found Richard staring in the pale moonlight, all cold and calculating expression on his face was gone, replaced by a gentle and sad look. Often, she wished that she could sit beside him under the pale light, resting her head on his shoulder as they talked about anything but the ongoing war.

Sadly, it stayed as a wish.

"Ms. Ariel..."

She whipped her head around, scanning the room for the source of the gentle, yet intimidating voice. And she found it, staring at her through the darkness with a luminescent red eye. "Good Evening, Lilia Ariel," the voice said politely, still in its curiously intimidating way. "I trust that you're able to talk now?"

"Don't even bother calling for help. I went over the trouble of putting the rank three sleeping draught to all body of water I could find in this city, even puddles on the street," the voice added, laced with the tone of cruel amusement. "They will not be awake until five o'clock in the morning."

"What do you want with me?" Lilia asked slowly, preparing to cast a defensive spell.

"...I'm a messenger, Ms. Ariel. And what I want is to give my message," the voice said. "Oh, where's my manner?! My name is Armando Lupine, call me everything you like. But I do prefer the term 'Gentleman Burglar'."

And the owner of the voice stepped into the faint moonlight filtered by the window. It was a brown haired teenager, about Reno's age with luminescent red eyes and a knee-length black cape, he hold an equally black top hat on his left hand. Lilia recognized the name. Armando Lupine, often nicknamed as 'Shadow Thief Lupine' was the almost legendary burglar that could break into any secured facility without setting anything off.

Lupine was infamous for going overboard with his stunts and acts. Once, he put _all_ clocks in Paris five minutes faster so he could steal_ a_ necklace from a museum.

And the Lupine looked exactly like the new French student: Jean Luc Francis.

"Forgive me for surprising you, but I take the form of Jean Luc Francis for my amusement and to conceal my real identity," he said, grinning cruelly. "You could say that I did not have a 'real' face."

"Now let's get to the point, shall we? Oh by the way, Ms. Ariel, have you seen the Gate?"

"The... Gate?" Lilia said slowly. The supposedly familiar word sounded alien on her tounge.

"Yes, the Gate, not our everyday gate, but the _Gate_. The very same thing that Azmuth and more recently, Richardson Tennyson, saw," he said. "You've made a payment, so you should have seen it."

Lilia was puzzled. "Payment?"

"Your digestive system? It's gone isn't it?" he said evidently raising an eyebrow. "Now, I shall perform my duty, if you may. I've got a message for you, from the Tennyson."

Lupine produced a sealed envelope from inside of his hat. It bore Richard's personal seal (_he never used the Tennyson family seal_) and the name 'Lilia Ariel' was written there with black ink. The writing was visible even from the dim moonlight and Lilia recognized them instantly as Richard's handwriting. "Ah, so you _can_ read it. I suppose Mr. Tennyson uses an ink that only visible to someone with your mana signature," he said approvingly. "Mr. Tennyson had predicted that I will break into his residence and you getting attacked after he left. So he left me with this message and someone to guard you."

"Who is it?"

"... An Angel," Lupine said, grinning wider. "Alicia, come to the light."

Another figure stepped in, a young woman this time. Lilia recognized her face as Alia, Richard's missing sister, but with a different hair and eye colour. But she could feel that Alia's look-a-like were different from the missing Tennyson. "Don't be fooled by her look, Ms. Ariel. Mr. Tennyson modelled her after his sister, but activating her again is a pain in my side."

"A...activate?"

"She's an android, B.C.I.O (_Bio-Crystalline engIneered andrOid_) model, left by Mr. Tennyson to protect you when he cannot," Lupin stated matter-of-factly. "The only one of her kind, and he made it just for you."

"He is correct," Alicia said for the first time, her tone was firm and carried a drop of coldness, just like her creator. "My father had entrusted me with your safety, as well as his friends' safety."

"What you must realize Ms. Ariel, is we're at war. You had to follow your eldest sister path," Lupine grinned. "I've crossed path with your sister a few times before, an all-out attack spells could prove to be immensely useful."

"Richardson Tennyson went missing because he wanted to fight in this war. As far as I know, he was recruiting mercenaries from all over the universe to help his effort," he continued. "I've done my part by stealing important weapons, information, and experiments. Victor and Reno was preparing to do their part and your sister is currently fighting in the war."

"But...but I don't like it! I could not hurt people, even to save my life!" Lilia shouted, feeling the unusual sensation of anger. "Just because of war, it doesn't mean I have to fight!"

"And if you don't like it, it does not mean you could escape the responsibility," Lupine said, fanning the flames. His cruel grin widened as he enjoyed the anger on Lilia's face. "I'm sorry for my rudeness, but playing with emotion is one of my favourite games. Help me keep my mind sharp and my intimidating skill up to perfection."

Lilia was about to shout when Alicia put one comforting hand on her shoulder. "Mistress, calm yourself down, please," she said gently, yet firmly and commanding. "Lupine is the one that seriously crippled the Galliray force. But father is the one that managed to trace him and expose his identity, so Lupine had no choice but to cooperate with father," she shot a playful glare to him. "Isn't that right?"

"Tch, don't say that out loud, will you? It's embarrassing enough that his alarm caught me red-handed while I'm retrieving _you_ and your father's little note," he said as he turned his back at them. "Read the note, Ms. Ariel, if you please. I need to meet with my... acquaintances."

He stepped back soundlessly into the shadow, a great feat considering that he was wearing a pair of hard soled black leather shoe, and promptly vanished. And the door didn't move at all. "Don't ask me how he did it," Alicia said when she saw Lilia's surprised look. "The Shadow Thief had done it again."

**IXI**

_Lilia_

_This will be the last words you will hear from me. You will not met Richardson Tennyson again, so don't try to look for me._

_I've decided that the name 'Tennyson' should vanish from the universe. My sister (if she lives after I'm through with her), will not be able to bear the name anymore, because as far as I'm concerned, she is not my sister. A traitor to be exact, the one that affiliated herself mindlessly to my sworn enemy and stabbed her brother in the back_

_I left Alicia to protect you and your friends. She's has all traits that a living being had, except the ability to age and breed, although she could change her appearance at will. So you will and _must_ treat her like a human being. I don't care what you say, but what I care is that you treat her with respect and gratitude._

_I also left you the code to my house, Alicia will know it all so don't hesitate to ask her. But be aware that I put a strain on her so she cannot reveal any code to my lab._

_Last thing I wanted to ask you is to give Alicia a new name. Her current name is Alicia Alexandria Tennyson. Change her name so she will not bear the shame _my_ name has brought. That is a burden only for me to bear._

_PS: Put Alicia far, far away from Reno and tell her to stop calling me 'father'. I don't have any family left, and I'm not interested on starting a new one._

Alicia sighed. "Father is always like that. He never acknowledged me as his daughter," she said as she finished changing Lilia's bandage. "He did the same to you too, doesn't he?"

"...yes, he treated me as a friend, but he never accepted me as one," the red haired girl said as she put her clothes backed on. "What did he mean '_you will not met Richardson Tennyson again_'?"

"Father has a way to... erase his existence. He frequently changed his appearance name when he's scouting," Alicia sighed. "If he did not want to be found, finding him is as possible as talking to a stone and hoping that stone would reply."

"So, I still have to give you a name, am I?"

"... I don't know, mistress. If you give me name, that'll make you my mother," Alicia said, tapping her head. "I don't know if this is one of father's piques or merely a glitch, but my programming told me that if you gave me a name, it'll make you my mother and denounce my father. I... I don't want that to happen... "

Lila came in soon afterwards, bringing foods and spare clothes with her. It's been a week the incident and Alicia and Lila had been taking care of her. Her mother was pretty happy with Alicia, although she still asking question about her origin. Lilia had been covering for her by saying that Alicia was a transfer student, which was backed up by the Headmaster who seemed to understand Alicia's origin.

'Sister, how are you feeling?'

"I'm fine, Lila. Thanks to you and Alicia," Lilia said softly. Folding up Richard's message and gave it back to Alicia. "So, what happened in school?"

'Usual thing. Reno is almost unbeatable in Sparring Matches, Victor got another award alongside GEO-1111, and the Headmaster is causing another mayhem by putting smoke pellets on the students' food,' Lila shook her head. 'Seriously, that Headmaster is one heck of a practical joker.'

"Well, when you're a severely gifted genius, you tend to take radical ways to amuse yourself," Alicia said. "Azmuth for example, spent his free time making people temporarily lost in space by scrambling their navigation device and cloaking them with controlled mirage so they cannot be found."

"And Richard spent his time installing defence mechanisms on his house," Lilia muttered. "Are all geniuses is like that? Paranoid, bitter, and cannot trust anyone beside themselves?"

Alicia just smiled. Lilia bet on all her life that she knew the answer.

**Alexander March**

"Giving up already?"

"Never!"

The brown hared young Human go up again, after the umpteenth time Alexander knocked him down. The latter was already bored of this very one-sided fight, but his opponent known nothing about giving up and seemed to be in need to learn how to stop. Alexander right arm was still in its diamond-covered state. The shard had formed a deliberately blunt long blade and gave protections to his arm and shoulder.

Well, Petrosapiens (_Diamondhead, if anyone forgot_) crystalline power was his main ability that served him without a flaw. He had managed to recruit three people besides Edward Rhein during his journey, but he still in need of man power. So he set his gaze at the descendant of an alien hunter known as Lt. Steel.

Alexander lazily blocked his opponent BeamBlade, he had seen his opponent's weakness ever since he glimpsed him walking through the Bounty Hunter Guild headquarter. He sighed tiredly as he expertly and quickly twisted his crude diamond blade around the BeamBlade and knocked it off his opponent's hand, a fancy sword-work he learnt during his early life. "Rule number thirteen in a swordfight: try to be the only one who wields a sword," Alexander yawned from under the scarf that hid the bottom half of his face. "Look, this is not helping me at all. I could disarm you all day, but that wouldn't help me accomplishing my goal."

"Shut up! I won't give you my help, no matter how many times you beat me!" the brown-haired man said scathingly as he picked up his sword. "Eat, DASHING STRAFE!!"

He slashed his sword wildly as he dashed forward toward the younger Alexander. Truth to be told, Alexander was only sixteen for just three days but he was already thinking like a battle-scarred forty years old. He backed away from the wild-moving opponent before throwing two shards of crystals to distract his opponent.

'_No pattern... typical Steel's movement._'

The bait was taken when the brunette batted away the shards. In an instant, Alexander used a technique he called 'flashstep' to close the gap between him and his opponent before giving a low roundhouse kick to his opponent's leg, causing him to lost balance. "C'mon, Steel. It's not helping us in anyway. A fact that you have a temper as short as a toddler did not help me end this war and it didn't help your fitness state."

"Oh it's helping _me_ alright. This whipped my bot to shape!" Leon cried out, picking up his BeamBlade once more.

'_Apparently, being hard headed his bad for your health_,' Alexander thought. He would have said that out loud if Edward was here. But he was away, recruiting other mercenary under watchful eyes of another person from the Rhein clan, namely, Raphael Rhein.

He decided to start attacking from a distance. BeamBlades were only good when used in close to medium range combat so a long range weapon or attack would effectively disarm the Steel for good. But there was a teeny weeny problem: his crystal power also only good at medium and close range combat.

So he had to activate other powers he got. So he chose not to.

"Even if you're an Experiment, Alex, I could beat the likes of you any time!"

"Isn't that a bit racist of you, Steel? Yes, I bore the power of a species that should not be mine, but I'm not Galliray's creation," Alexander stated in a calm, yet cold and firm way. "And the golden rule of fighting: never gloat at the face of the enemy."

Then he flashstepped toward the Steel, grabbed the hem of his clothes and with one swift movement, slammed him to the ground. And for good measure, he put long shards of crystals to pin the hot headed young man down. "Want to talk, or not?"

'Let me see," Leon said in a singsong voice. "Of course... NOT!"

'_This is getting annoying,_' Alexander mused. But annoyance would only get in the way of thinking straight, so he shrugged it off. '_Is this normal? I could shrug anything off, even anger, without difficulty,_' he asked himself as his annoyance gone instantly.

Then again, the boundary between 'normal' and 'insane' in his life was always vague. "Here's the deal, you helped me, and I'll help you," he said. "Equivalent trade. I know that your family exiled you for your over-the-top Battle Drive, so why don't you use that for the war?"

The Steel family were known for their 'Battle Drive', a state of mind that made a member of the Steel family stronger, faster, and smarter in the cost of their judgement, movement pattern, and ethical sense. Because of the Battle Drive, which always partially dormant, most Steels always craved for fights and bloodsheds.

"What you had to know, March, is the Steels' Battle Drives are the only thing that kept us moving," Leon said harshly. "That's what made us, the Steel clan, the most successful Hunters on the universe. So I don't see any point to waste such a good resources on the war? Hunters made pretty pennies for themselves, no matter who they served."

"Yeah, I notice. Mercenaries are just like that, and believe me, I _know_ how it felt to be mercenary," Alex stated coldly, seeing that Leon was _this_ close to activating his Battle Drive. "Don't you dare to fully active your Battle Drive."

"Too late," Leon grabbed one of the long crystal shards, not caring that the sharp edges cut deeply into his skin. He licked his own blood, activating his Battle Drive in the process. "I'll give you the honour to be the killed with my Battle Drive, _Experiment_. So be grateful."

"I've forgot how to be grateful long ago," Alexander replied calmly. "What I remember is how to fight."

"So do I."

And they ran toward each other, weapon brandished, ready to kill.

**IXI**

**Silver**

Frigid arctic wind hit his unsmiling face and caused small stinging sensation on every inch of his serious features. He was about to leave the boundary of the arctic sea when the transreceiver on his car's dashboard beeped. The name 'Manic' was written on the small receiver screen.

Silver nodded nonchalantly to the receiver, pushing the 'receive' button using his physic power. "Yo, whacha doin' Silverware!?" a hyperactive, slightly psychopathic voice belonged to Nicholas 'Manic' Lightspeed. "Rufus just call me, yo! He said that the Rheindeers called for somebody that can read Gallirayean code."

Gallirayean code was a writing that only the Councils, High Generals, and Division Generals able to read. The resistance however, managed to decipher the code after a tedious espionage and mustering the strength of all Code-Breakers the resistance had. But only the Code-Breakers were able to read the whole darned things without getting lost in the middle.

"... First, stop calling me 'Silverware', second, why's so sudden?" Silver said as he sipped the black coffee from a cup. "Raphael Rhein is a very competent Code-Breaker, why he needs me to translate the Gallirayean code?"

"Dude, don't cha ask me. I just a Neo-Guardian," Manic said offhandedly. Silver could imagine he shrugged his shoulder. "Oh B.T.W, say hello to Raystrom and Marina when you meet 'em, 'kay? Ciao!"

Silver sighed as he changed his course to the nearest Gravity Jump gate. He wanted to visit a nano-tech exhibition called the Helvaska Fair at New-Northern Moscow, but Rufus just wouldn't let him have his well-deserved break. So he braced himself for some long hours of deciphering texts.

**IXI**

Raphael Rhein was a young man with neck-length black hair and nonchalant light blue eyes and an 'X' shaped scar on his left cheek. His left eye was shadowed by a long fringe of his hair, making him looked like a hardened criminal. He had a bad habit of chain-smoking two cigarettes at once. He wore his usual v-necked shirt with a knee length over coat with a heavy-looking BeamBlade on his back.

He may look like a human, but the truth was way weirder. You see, the Rhein clan were members of a near-extinct species called 'Lycanninoid' (_Play of the word 'lycanthrope' and 'canine' and 'humanoid'_).

In Earth's medieval times, Lycanninoid came to Earth to peacefully settle amongst human, counting the fact that they could change their werewolf-like form into human form. But tragically, they were often mistaken as werewolves because the moonlight made them unable to maintain their human-form. Other than that, they're pretty harmless if you overlooked the fact that they could push a little hill if they are in their normal form.

The Rhein clan fixed this problem by putting a 'seal' on their gene, making them human most of the time until the seal is deliberately lifted using special technique. Edward Rhein's genetic seal was not complete and there were some 'glitches' on his DNA because of the incomplete seal, causing him to stay in his werewolf-like form most of the time.

But Ed's human form was charming enough. He was a late teenager with the same hair and eye colour as his brother. His hair however, did not get in the way so everyone could see his smiling face. But his eyes were watery because of the smoke that drifted from his brother direction. "_Cough_. Brother, can you please put that cigarettes out?" he said as he coughed, carrying manners a long way.

If it was Silver, he would just say 'put it out pal, or your face gets it'. "Let's get to the darned point, what am I suppose to decipher?"

Edward winced over Silver's bluntness. "Umm... Ralph's got it. He dubbed it Gallirayean code version 2.0," he said as Leo put out one of the cigarettes on his mouth before he lit another one. "It's an entirely new code, but I think you could read it easily."

Ralph handed the psychic a pile of paper bearing the writing of the Gallirayean codes. "I've managed to compare it with the few remaining remnants of the Tennyson code, and I found a remarkable similarity in them," he said after taking a long draft of his cigarettes. "However, I could not decipher Tennyson code, because nobody except the Omnitrix wielders and a handful of member of the Tennyson family can read it."

"And as you know, the last known people that could read the code are Richard and Alia Tennyson. Both are missing and presumed dead."

"Wait a minute, since when they're presumed 'Dead'? Galliray made that up again?"

"... Fortunately, yes. Mike informed me of a cover up on the Richard Tennyson case. Unfortunately for us, all government in the universe believed it," Ralph continued. "Even Rufus is having a hard time convincing the governments that Richard Tennyson is still alive."

"Playing politician to slow down the Galliray's plan is not the only thing that Rufus can do, isn't it?"

"Worse. They're voting on the use of Megaweapon right now. If they decided to use the new De-Mat cannon," Ralph paused, taking a considerably long draft before continuing. "We're toast."

**IXI**

**Alia Eldritch**

Council meeting was boring, but this meeting was an exception. With all five High Generals in the room debating about the use of Megaweapon that each General' scientist squads had developed. All Special Squad Leaders were there too, even the 'I-don't-take-your-order' Nichovillan Stalingard.

Generals Rufus was convinced that the only thing that should be done was to paralyse the enemy weaponry, so he proposed the use of EMP (_Electromagnetic_ _pulse_) missile nicknamed _Diablo_ that will disable any device within reach of ten million kilometres. But General Frontiere proposed the use of De-Mat cannon, a cannon that literally erase the target from existence.

De-Mat cannon was an improved design of a Megaweapon prototype nicknamed '_Terra-Deformer_' cannon. Just one blast from the De-Mat is enough to 'erase' anything it hit from the existence. It was tested on an uninhabited planet called TX-I. The result was astonishing and beyond their expectation: the Jupiter-sized planet was gone. Just a bright light and _poof_, no more planet to seen and there was no evidence of explosion the planet disintegrating.

It was gone, without a trace, not even a particle was left. Imagine what it could to an inhabited planet. What's worse: it can be fired across the universe, practically reaching anywhere as long you know the coordinates.

Alia had voted against the De-Mat cannon, but four against two was classified as out numbered. Kid, Antonio, the leader of the Siege Squadron, Harun Ibn Abbas, the leader of Elemental Squadron, and Wan-lee, colonel and leader of War-Scientist Squadron had voted against it as well. But the rest were siding with the General Frontiere. The decision lay on Calrizeus vote.

"... What are the drawback of the De-Mat cannon?" he asked.

"It needs a cool down period of three hours and a full refitting of the barrel each time it is fired. And the amount of power we use for just one shot can power all Earth nations for three years," Ericson (General Frontiere) answered calmly. "Also, the De-Mat go through anything until it found a considerable resistance, a planet for example. It'll be dangerous to use when our units is on its firing course. So I'll advise that we do _not_ use it unless it's necessary."

"General Rufus, what is the drawback of the _Diablo_?"

"_Diablo_ will disable any electronic device within reach, but it's useless against biological life forms. It can be fired across the universe, like the De-Mat, but the autonomous Gravity Jump module on the missile often brought the _Diablo_ to the wrong spot," Rufus said, his calmness matched General Frontiere's. "It will only seek the specified target, but our nearby unit will also become disabled."

The councils began to ramble amongst themselves. Karen however, smiled at her husband. Alia knew why: because Eric had practically put a restriction on his weapon, putting General Rufus and his _Diablo_ on the upper hand. Eric and Rufus always tried to minimize the casualty from both side when they took command, so Eric was giving way to the less harmful _Diablo_.

Alia also spotted the telltale sign of General Frontiere determination to stop the De-Mat project. He has been sending letters to Karen and Alia, begging them to convince the councils to put a stop on the De-Mat project. He also deliberately stalling the project by carelessly putting the forms he needed to sign and lost it.

"Miss, there is a message for you," Leonardo whispered clearly, but almost inaudible so only Alia could hear him as he handed her CP. The word 'Kuf' pulsed gently on the display screen.

She opened the message immediately. Kuf was investigating the disappearance of her brother for her birthday present, helped by the a few Marksmen that Kid sent alongside him.

The message was brief:

_Alia_

_I had my suspicion on an individual named 'Alexander March'. He seemed to know a lot about your brother, even the projects that your brother had been working on recently._

_But I'm afraid that Alexander is an insanely strong and secretive. I've cut some corners with him and he almost managed to destroy me. I cannot progress any further in this investigation._

_Kuf_

Alia stared the message. She remembered a prophecy made by an Andonite Mage when the Galliray Order was founded.

'_The order fall lies in the hand of the Emperor of the Third Month. The Emperor will rise from a grieving King that bore the name of the one who first described a Legendary Beast of the Seven Sea. He bore the Power and Knowledge in exchange for his ability to love. He will denounce his own blood and fled from his fate._

'_He will bring the Five Sacred Civilizations through the Five Gates and rise against the order. He will bring the end of the war, in exchange of sadness, which he will bear for himself."_

Alexander is the name of an Ancient Emperor (_as in: Alexander the Great_) and March is the third month in Earth's year. Alexander March… can he be the one? To answer that, she had to find who he _was_ before he took that name.

The problem was, there were _billions_ of name that might refer to an Earth's past kings. Name such as Edward (_e.g.: Edward VI of Tudor_), Henry (_e.g.: Henry VII of Tudor_), Louis, or even Francis was a bit too common for human. What's worse, humans had spread all over the universe and increase in number from a mere billions to thousands of billions.

"... Leonardo, can you do me favour? Search all names of Earth's baron, kings, and lords. Try to make a connection with any sea beast from the any legend you could find," Alia said after a long thoughtful silence. "Focus on the Kraken. I've remembered parts of the ancient lore that said the beast is called under the name of the first one who described it"

"? Pardon me for speaking out of my turn, but why?"

".... The bringer of the fall is coming, Leo. We don't have much time," Alia sent a look to Kid, who nodded slightly so no one will notice. "Galliray is in danger. And I will not let it fall."

**IXI**

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That brings the end of this chapter. Anybody who could guess why Alia is focusing her research on the Kraken will receive the ver

_y first look of my next chapter days (or weeks) in advance._


	10. Chapter 10

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So far, Reno didn't play a large role in this story. Wait until you see what he got in this chapter.

_Disclaimer: I did not own Ben 10_

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Chapter 10

"_We cannot escape history."—Abraham Lincoln, __the 16th President of United States_

**Alexander March**

"... Now you cooperate?" he asked at the crucified figure of Leon. The cross was the result of another technique Alexander had developed: Cross End. The crude crystal cross which Leon was bound to was filled with sharp edges, so the more he tried to break free, the more cuts will appear. "I'm tired and my power needs both my concentration and stamina to maintain."

Leon answer was to glower at him. Alexander bet on everything he got that he wanted to activate his Battle Drive once more. But his access to his own blood was barred, thus resulting in no more Battle Drive. "OK, freak, you win. I'll help you but what's in it for me?"

"... I'll help you find your way back to your clan, is that enough?"

"...You're asking me about enough? They don't care about me," Leon spat. "So why should I? I don't care anymore about my family. I don't care about anyone! _You_ can die in this silly war for free, but don't expect me to participate without some pretty penny."

"...Then perhaps I should offer you riches?"

"Heh, if I'm that greedy, I won't be wearing this ragged Hunter clothing right now."

"Then what?"

Leon eye narrowed into thin slits. "... I'm not even sure you can get me what I wanted."

"Then how in the blazes I'm going to pay you?"

"What about if you give me a Hunting Ground for me to control?"

Hunting Ground was the Hunter's term for an area (_usually as big as a galaxy_) they hunt criminals in. A Controlled Hunting Ground meant that only the Controlling Hunter is allowed to hunt on that particular ground.

'_Of all things that you could've asked,_' Alexander thought in dismay. He then released the Steel by using his diamond-control. "Alright, but you have to help me stopping this war _and _the Order."

A gunshot was heard and Alexander lazily deflected the bullet with his diamond arm. "Really, Sky, it'll take a lot more than bullets to take me down," he yawned. "And stop that, you know it's futile. What's the news?"

Sky Anderson, a twenty-one year old man with waist-length of dirty blond hair decorated with a brown cowboy hat and a pair of sky blue eyes slid down from the hill, using his gunblade (_a weapon that incorporated a gun and a sword_) to control his falling speed. "Well, there's bad news and bad news," he said when he landed, sheathing his peculiar weapon back. "Bad news one, bad ol' Calrizeus agreed on using the De-Mat cannon."

"Why I have a bad feeling for bad news two?"

"Errr, yeah. Bad news two: he's going to use it on the Anur Transyl in a month time."

"... That's settles it. Leon, get up. This is your first work," Alexander said as he released the Steel using his diamond-control power. "Regroup with Edward, Angeline, and Angela. We've got a De-Mat cannon to destroy."

**Lilith Ariel**

_Tale of the Sides_

_Long ago, when the universe is still young, two Humans-Like races arise on the border of the universe. Their echoes of intelligence still reside within the fabled Gate of End and their form still lingered in the universe._

_One of them are the meddler of time, the other is the observer of time. One always gone to fix the order of the universe, the other on just sit back and watch until it was too late. Their differences had caused wars that rippled through the river of time._

_Then, as the last resort of seeking peace, they created two sides of the universe, divided by an impenetrable rip in the time and space, opened by a dozen singularities. They thought that they could live in peace at last, but they were wrong. _

_The meddler's Time repairing activity began to show its effect of the observers' side. Because Time is such an unstable thing, one repaired paradox would lead into another paradox. This endless cycle of repairing and damaging angered the observers, because they believed that Time should be left by itself. _

_The Last Great War commenced shortly after the sides was created. The war literally ripped the Time and Space apart, spawning many alternate universe and dimensions along the way. The war was so great that the echoes of the destruction it caused still lingered in the Timestream and often appeared in someone's nightmare. In that war, both of them were annihilated._

_But the great rip still persisted to this very day, guarded by The Five Horrors on our side and the Five Sacred Races on the other. One day, the rip wil..._

**Knock, knock, knock**!

'_Seriously, can't I have a bit of peace around here?_' Lilith sighed as he put down her book. It had to be either Lucian or Ellie, because the knocks were civilized and didn't cause any damage. Cy's knocks dented the door if not rightly knock it down while Matt knocked like a muscleman acting as a debt collector. "Who is it?"

"It's Ellie. Can I come in?"

"Yes, just a minute." Lilith said as she changed her clothing. The previous was ruffled because of her lack of activity besides sleeping and reading. The rule of making herself look presentable on everyone was firmly rooted on her mind, therefore, she refused to met people of she thought that she did not look presentable to them.

When she opened the door, Lilith spotted Matt leaning on the wall in front of Ellie's room, which was right besides her own quarry. His eyes were closed and his breathings were deep and calm. "Let him be," Ellie said as she carefully brushed a stray lock from Matt's hard, scarred face. "He hasn't been sleeping like this since he picked up Jasmine and Heat. He didn't even move when I touched him."

Lilith had saw that Ellie had a mad crush to the young Human/Vulpimancer because on how Ellie clung to him even if Matt regarded her as a nuisance and a burden and he never miss any opportunity to rub the fact on her face. Her only talent was concerning technology, which Matt deemed as unnecessary.

"Lucian wanted to talk to you," the dark-haired girl said. "He received a mission for you from Rufus. Concerning the De-Mat cannon."

**IXI**

Lucian was wearing an eye-patch on his left eye. Something that Lilith never saw him done before and she was sure that his left eye did not receive any injuries. He also wore a cloth glove on his left hand, another thing that Lucian suddenly wore without any apparent reason.

She met him on the hall-like observation deck. He was staring into the distance outside the window. Lilith had noticed that he had often stared blankly towards the distant place, but the direction he was staring at was always one the same: his mother's home planet, the destroyed Vascarian, home to the now extinct Phanteas-Vampiria.

"Well, as you know, Calrizeus had decided to approve the use the De-Mat, short for Dematerialization, cannon," he said without looking at her. "A mercenary named Alexander March, who agreed to work along with the resistance, had made his move to destroy the cannon. He had a small band of other mercenaries and lost Experiments ready to move out when he needed it."

"Your task is simple, aid him and his band to destroy the cannon," he continued, still not looking at her. "However, be wary of Alexander. He seemed to know more than he showed. Cy, Jasmine, Heat, and Matt are to aid you in this mission as well while Aaron will be ready to pick you up when you're finished"

'_Something's not right here..._' Lilith thought. "... Lucian may I ask something?" she said after a considerable pause. "Are you turning into a Vampiria already?"

"... How did you know?"

"Because I'm turning to an Andonite too," she replied. "Andonite children are born with frail physical body and will turn into an energy-being when they reached certain age. The only thing that keeps my physical form right now is my concentration and sheer will.

"Phanteas-Vampiria is also the same right? They did not drink blood, have poisonous blood, or have fangs until they reached certain age."

Lucian turned towards her with a pleading light on his eyes. His amethyst-coloured eye was already turning into rust-coloured hue while the white of his eye was darkening to a light grey shade. "Please, Lilith, you had to understand," he said gently and pleadingly. "During my change, my bloodlust will be uncontrollable. I don't want to hurt you or anyone, but what if I couldn't stop myself from doing it? So it's the best for you all to leave me."

Lilith advanced closer to the half Phanteas-Vampiria. "Didn't my Blood Elixir work?" she asked, although she knew the answer. Blood Elixir was a medicine she created for Lucian. Because he Phanteas-Vampiria's bloodlust often resurfaced on the young man's mind and the Blood Elixir kept that bloodlust in check.

"... No. The extreme change that my body is experiencing overrides the effect of your elixir. I keep craving for blood even after I drink a whole flask of it," he said. Lilith could see that his incisors were already two times longer than it should be. "I was forced to drink blood that I obtained from animals for a while now."

"Why don't you ask for my blood, then?"

Lucian blinked dumbly on the blunt inquiry. "I said, why don't you ask for my blood, then?" Lilith repeated firmly. "If there's nothing could suppress your bloodlust, then at least take my blood so nobody else will get hurt."

"Lilith, do you know that Vampiria bite could turn you into something like me?" Lucian said almost angrily. "I rather bite myself to death rather than to take a drop of your blood."

"A _pure_ Phanteas-Vampiria bite will turn their victims into a Phanteas, yes. But you're half human," Lilith said, closing the gap between them. They were now within arm reach of one another. "I will not leave until you bite me here."

She tapped her neck with her index and middle finger, right on the vein that run through the length of it. Lilith was sure that Lucian noticed the slight contraction of the vein because the shade of red of his eye deepened for a split-second before he shook his head. "No, Lilith. And you know me long enough that once I said 'No' it mea...!"

Lucian never finished his words because Lilith had implanted her lips on his. She could taste the faint trace of blood which still resided on his lips. But the kiss was short-lived because Lucian recoiled, looking pale and distressed. Lilith advanced on him again, but Lucian put his hand in front of him in a defensive fashion.

"No, please. I'm turning into something so horrible that you should never get close to me at all. Phanteas is the horror of the cosmos," he shook his head in distress. "Lilith, please, I.."

"_I_ don't care," Lilith said, putting her soft, but callused hands on Lucian's battle scarred ones, removing them as her beautiful face closed into Lucian's distressed one. "Phanteas is extinct now, the only remnant left about them is you, and to me, you're _more_ human than Phanteas."

"And I love you Lucian..."

She kissed the captain again. But this time, Lucian did not struggle. They kissed for a long moment until...

"Well, I see both of you are having fun," Jasmine smirked naughtily. Lilith and Lucian immediately broke the kiss and saw that Jasmine was leaning on the corner. "I knew what my husband taught me will be useful one day."

Jasmine did not bore the name 'Stalingard' because she was the Assassin Squad leader, Nichovillan Stalingard sister. It was a necessity for the Canninoid to be married on the age of ten for male and nine for female. And Jasmine, as a sixteen-year old hybrid human-Caninoid that lived amongst the humanoid-canine race, also got married at the age of nine.

"Jasmine, when...?!"

"I never moved from here since yesterday," the white-haired girl smirked. "I wonder.... what would happen if this little scene got out to Ellie, Cy, Heat, and Matt?"

Lilith was speechless. '_Why's everybody had to screw things for me? I'm kissing the very one that I've been dreaming for ages and _she_ had to ruin it,_' she thought in dismay

Lucian glowered at her, showing the abnormally long incisor. "Don't you dare," he growled. White streaks started to appear on his dark coloured hair and the white on his eyes turned black and his claws lengthened. His transformation was almost complete; a pair of bony wings was the only thing he lacked now.

Oh wait, something bulged from beneath the tattered cape and burst out of its confinement. It was a pair of black, large, bony wings with thin film of leathers stretched between the long support bones. _Now_ his transformation was complete. '_Guess anger sped up the transformation..._' Lilith thought as she backed away from the growling Lucian

Jasmine didn't even flinch from the sudden change. She drew marble-sized shiny ball and put it between her teeth. "Don't tempt me to use this," she smiled.

Lucian responded by biting himself on the arm. Lilith thought she heard herself cried out as his blood spilled endlessly to the floor. Then the pool of blood began to move, formed spikes and hardened as soon the shape was finished.

'_Blood control_,' Lilith realized as the blood spikes shot towards the white haired girl. '_Phanteas prime ability_.'

Jasmine shook her head as she gulped down the shiny pill. "Turning to Agility Type," and in an instant, she transformed into a three tailed white wolf. She deftly dodged the spikes and launched herself towards the _Lunarcruiser_'s captain with an amazing speed.

"_I don't think so!_" Lucian shouted. His voice was strangely doubled with his own voice and another ominous voice that reminded Lilith of the Ectonurite's hoarse voice. The red spikes that had missed propelled themselves back towards her.

"Turning to Stronghold Type," she said flatly. When the word 'form' left her mouth, the furs on her body lengthened and hardened, making her looked like a ball of needles with wolf paws. Lucian's blood spikes hit the furs and became stuck at it, unable to progress further.

At that very moment, door slid open, admitting Heat in his Speed Form who spewed a jet of fire towards both fighters. "What in the name of all that blazing is going on in here!?" he said after both Lucian and Jasmine dodged the fire. "Jasmine, I told you _not_ to use the Roar Pill unless it's an emergency!!"

"Roar pill?" Lilith inquired tentatively.

"A pill that gave me several different forms beside my Strength, Speed, and Human form," he explained as he changed into his burly Strength form. "Jasmine, as a Caninoid Halfling, is able to gain different forms when she gulped it down. But the side-effect is much worse on her than on me."

"_Do not poke your nose on my business!_" Lucian said with an ominous laugh. "_I will have a feast tonight, yes. A feast of a Halfling blood, yes!_"

"Well, sorry to rain on your parade pal, but technically you _are_ a Halfling too. And I thought I should stop your 'feast' on the Halfling," Heat said as he covered his hand with flame. "I've got some chicken blood from my leftover carcasses; you just had to enjoy that."

**IXI**

**Alia Eldritch**

"So Leo, what did you find?" Alia asked tentatively.

Leonardo had bags under his bloodshot eyes because of the lack of sleep and he was in a cranky mood today. "Pretty much nothing, ma'am. I've cross references Loch Ness, Kappa, Mermaid, Sirens, Serpent, Leviathan, Kraken, Jörmungandr, and even Moby Dick and Godzilla with anyone with kings, lords, barons, and dukes' name," he said hoarsely. "I don't think we found any good result."

"...Maybe we had to look on somewhere else _besides_ the British, Spanish, and French," Kid said as he paused his trawling through gigs of data. "We might try the Americans, Australian, and other people from various settlements around the universe to find the right name, but we can do that later."

"Now, _you_ get sleep," he continued as he dragged Leonardo by his collar. "Don't argue with me, or I ask Alia to fire you."

Kid vanished with struggling Leonardo while Alia read the _Book of Classic Poets_ she got from the arrogant Felinesapiens a year ago. She knew most of the poets by heart, but it was relaxing to read poems when you were _this_ close to a depression.

One of the poems that she liked the most was _The Kraken_ by a famous poet Alfred Tennyson, which goes like this:

_Below the thunders of the upper deep;  
Far far beneath in the abysmal sea,  
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep  
The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee  
About his shadowy sides; above him swell  
Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;  
And far away into the sickly light,  
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell  
Unnumber'd and enormous polypi  
Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green.  
There hath he lain for ages, and will lie  
Battening upon huge seaworms in his sleep,  
Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;  
Then once by man and angels to be seen,  
In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die._

For Kid, the poem gave him an image of a giant squid in a cocoon somewhere deep down on the Earth's blue sea. For Alia however, it raised an image of a deep, underground lair of the sea monster beneath the pristine blue sea, waiting for doomsday to come so it can wake from its eternal sleep and delivered its mighty wrath.

When she was little, her father often joked about them being a distant descendant to Alfred Tennyson. But both Alia and Richard obviously did not have the gift of poetry that Alfred Tennyson had because they were a pair of terrible liars. Alia preferred blunt, straight forward speech while his older brother preferred the _tell-almost-the-truth_ speech.

Practically, both of them never lied.

Kid threw himself on the sofa just beside Alia when he got back, sighing heavily. "De-Mat will be fired in about three weeks time, Alia," he said as he stared into space before puling his cowboy hat down so the rim shadowed his blue eyes. "I felt kind of bad… whatever Calrizeus call it, what we're doing, it's still an act of genocide."

Alia, despite her high intellect, could not construct a credible argument. So she placed herself beside the talented marksman. "I know, Kid," she said softly as she edged closer to him. "I wish we can finish this war without doing this…"

"Hate to admit it, but your brother is right," Kid said heavily. "'_Do not follow your feelings. It clouded your better judgment_'. I wonder where he is now, because there is a possibility that he can convince the Order not to do this genocide."

They sat in silence as Alia listened to Kid effortless, almost inaudible breathing caused by the ever-changing metabolism his species was notorious for. You could drop a Felinesapiens on the top of Mount Everest without breathing equipments or warm clothing and they would be doing just fine. Or maybe you prefer to drop them in a driest desert know with only a keg of water and they would be doing gymnastic after a while.

Felinesapiens were the ultimate survivors on their galaxy. Their physical strengths were inferior compared to human, but how their body works always change to adapt on any environment and situation. There were only three type of poisons known that could kill a Felinesapiens because their body could neutralize most poisons without any outside help.

"But what troubles me is this: The Ectonurite empire didn't move again after they established their grip on the Centaurion Solar System," Alia said as she rested her head on Kid's shoulder. "I wish I knew what's happening inside the Ectonurites mind."

"Their _hive minds_ you mean. Their mind inter.... THAT'S IT! Alia, I know you heard this before, but you're a genius!" Kid exclaimed as he abruptly stood up. "Why did I see it before? If we can found somebody other than an Ectonurite that have the capability to hack into their hive minds undetected, we could always be one step ahead of them!"

"Umm, Kid? I've think of that possibility long ago," Alia said as she tried to pull Kid back into her arms. "We're forgetting that their hive minds are impossible to hack into."

"Alia, you're _forgetting_ about the 'legal' way in," Kid winked as he conjured a CP from inside his hat. "What if an _Ectonurite_ is able to break free from the hive mind while retaining his or her access to it?"

"No, it can't be... can it?"

"Well, there are two possibilities for this. One is a hybrid Human-Ectonurite, the other is a full-fledged Ectonurite," Kid frantically explained as he dialled a number on his CP. "That's why I retained some... underworld contacts. And I knew somebody who is just right for this kind of thing."

Alia could not hold her excitement any longer and implanted her red lips on his cheek and hugged him. "As arrogant as you are, you'll make a good leader," she said. "And a good..."

"Alia, get, off, me, now," Kid said flatly, insensitive as ever. They only kissed three times in their four years relationship because he doesn't like _anyone_ invading what he called 'personal space'. This is what caused them to shout at one another each time they met. "I'm sorry for being insensitive. You can kiss me as much as you want after this war, Alia."

"Fine then!" Alia shot back as she released her hug. "Don't expect me to...!"

At that very time, Edo the Metal horse in his humanoid form, which resembled horse-wereman, burst into the hall. "Master! I presumed that you will be pleased to see this!" he said, keeping his politeness despite the obvious excitement. "I have found a faint genetic signature of Richard Tennyson!"

Kid shook his head in dismay. "Edo, when did I teach you to talk politely to me?" he said before registering what the metal horse just said. "WHAT!??"

"That's not all, Master Kid. I've traced an Omnitrix signal too," Edo said seriously. "It is possible that Richardson Tennyson continued the Omnitrix project his father started. But this Omnitrix signal is... different."

"How?" Alia asked.

"This particular Omnitrix signal is ten percent stronger than the past Omnitrixes," Edo explained. "It can mean two things: it contained more DNAs or it was enhanced externally."

"Oh, great. There's a new Omnitrix's on the loose so why I don't feel safe?" Kid grumbled. "Edo, execute procedure number seven: alert the Assassin and Tracker squad immediately, but do not alert the Councils just yet."

"Consider it done, Master Kid."

**IXI**

**Reno Levin**

_**Lunarcruiser**__**Control Bridge**_

Reno met the Alexander for the first time ever. The redhead looked towards him with apprehension because those dark green eyes and black hair reminded him of his step-cousin. The differences between them were that Alexander's gold left eye and Richard's hairs did not have yellow tips on them.

Everyone was there: Lucian, Lilith, Ellie, Matt (_sleeping, leaning on Ellie_), Heat, Jasmine, Ralph, Edward, Silver, even the sort-of-infamous Leon Steel.

"So, this is the legendary Alex," Reno said, raising an eyebrow. "Man, how did you get Ed and Leon that easy? Rufus can't convince them to join, as far as I know."

"Maybe because you're there," Alexander said, shrugging off the issue with just a sentences. "Reno, I've gained news that your brother is siding with the Galliray to help them win the Tennyson, is that correct?"

"Don't remind me I'm related to that thin'," Reno said loathingly. "Yes, no. Yes he sided with that darned Order. No, he sided with them so his action of killing will be justified as legal," he explained. "Considering that he's born with so much killin' intent and..."

"He's a pain in the bum and a dangerous threat, that is," said a ginger-haired young man in a brown pin-strip suit who seemed to appear out of nowhere, accompanied with a sad looking young woman in a dress with hanging sleeves. "If we don't eliminate him, we can kiss your resistance goodbye."

Reno, Edward, Ralph and basically everyone on that room besides Alexander and the sleeping Matt (_geddit? Sleeping Matt? Oh never mind_) whipped around and brandished their hand, weapons, or claws towards the uninvited newcomer. "Don't worry, he's harmless enough. The girl is the one who you should be worry at," Alexander said calmly as he turned toward the man. "Hello, Traveller. Hello, Historian. It's been a while."

"Well, we haven't seen each other for four month, three weeks, four days, fifteen hours, two second, fifty five microseconds, and one hundred and fifty nanoseconds," the Traveller said, sniffing the air. "Ahh, I used to love the smell of the 23nd century. Now the smell is a bit nasty because of the war."

"Stop the chit-chat now, Traveller. I had to record this event now," the girl, or the Historian said. "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm the Historian. I record the universes' hidden histories. He is the Traveller. As his name suggest, he travel."

"Alex what's the meaning of this?" Lucian said threateningly. Heat was keeping a close eye on him under Lilith's request. "Who is this? And how they get in?"

"Well, meet the one who keep the war in line: the Traveller. He's the one who every one of us should thank," Alexander said, gesturing to the Traveller. "Without him, the world will end when Ken Tennyson is eleven years old."

"And I should thank the Historian too. Because I learnt many things about what started this war, like the fact that Ectonurites are not necessarily the 'bad' side of this war," he continued. "But more of that can wait until we had time. Traveller, did you bring me what I asked for?"

"Well, I've done what's necessary. It's always been that way, Alex," Traveller said as he produced a small projector from inside his suit. "I've done what you asked too. The map of the entire De-Mat Cannon facility, just like you asked."

"What the? How did you get that?" Reno exclaimed as the 3D projection of their target facility appeared on the air. "I've been trying to hack the darned system for months!"

"Well, that's because I'm smart," Traveller said smugly. "Second, I have the Historian on my side, and she knows just about _anything_."

"Oh yeah? Prove it," Reno asked challengingly.

The Historian sighed with contempt before speaking with a clear and monotonous voice. "Reno Levin, born on Bellwood, 23 February, 2155. Inherited the power to absorb and literally borrows someone else's power. Notorious for hacking, chemistry knowledge, and computing skill. Hobby: joking, modifying cars, computing, and annoy anyone in vicinity," she murmured clearly. "Recently, he developed a very close relationship with Lila Ariel after he saved her from being hit by a car."

"Stop, stop, STOP! Okay, I believe you!" Reno shouted as he felt Lilith angry glare and everybody else's smirks. '_Is she stalking me?_' he thought as he edged away from the sad-looking Historian.

"For your information, I _don't_ stalk you," she said, as if she was reading his mind. "I record every detail in this universe's history ever since the...." she stopped there. It seemed that she couldn't bring herself to say the rest of her sentences as she turned away from them.

"Well now, let's get to the point and harass Reno later," the Traveller took over. "The De-Mat cannon is a Megaweapon that erases the very thread of existence of its target. However, they're some tricky bits that you need to know.

"First, The De-Mat cannon cannot be fired at anytime because it took so much energy and need a major refitting of its barrel every time it is fired. It relied solely on the fact that once it is fired, the enemy would be too weak to make a counter attack. Second, please note that even if the De-Mat cannon can erase existence, it does not mean its erasing beam cannot be hold or deflected."

"So what kind of shield we had to use, just in case we're too late?" Cy asked as he started taking notes on a PDA.

"Any thick enough shield will do. Although positron-charged force field defence mechanisms are the best ones yet because... (_five minutes of explaining about how the positron will negate De-Mat's erasing effect_). And to deflect it, a large Reflector Cape, at the size of an Earth's football field will do, although I did not recommend you to deflect it. However....(_More techno babble_)"

This Traveller was _smart_. So smart that he couldn't stop talking about science, calculations, and other things that Reno couldn't even began to comprehend. "In simple English translation: the shield and the deflector we need to use if we're too late are pretty much impossible to get," Alexander translated after the Traveller stopped talking. "We better destroy, or at least disable that cannon _before_ it is fired."

"And like I always said, easier said than done," Heat murmured as the others nodded in agreement.

"Wrong. It is easier than its looks like," the Traveller said brightly. "C'mon, I'll help too, you know. Don't worry, because you get the one, the only, and the best Traveller around here."

"That make it even worse," Leon muttered ominously. "My head hurt."

Lucian nodded too, but he agreed with the Traveller, nevertheless. "With Mutt out of commission, I think we need all man power we could spare," he said as he looked towards Matt in annoyance. "He fell into a hibernation state at the time like this? What a useless person he is."

"Speaking about member, Alexander, who are you?" the Historian said, as blunt as ever. "You're not supposes to exist, a glitch in the Timestream. A glitch that seemed to be inerasable and unrepairable,

"So my question is, who are you? Explain, now."

"… First, why should I explain? You're like a hyena, Historian. Going to one place and another just to record without helping and I have no desire to explain myself to a hyena," Alexander said, meeting the Historian's gaze head on. "Second, information is power, and I'm not to give you any power over me."

"Well said, Alexander. But as a recorder of events, I have to remain neutral from any side, no matter what I think and feel," Historian said coldly. "I'm old, Alexander. I used to have so much mercy and patience in me."

"Umm.... guys?" Reno called tentatively.

"And I'm young, Historian. I did not have _any_ mercy or patience in me," Alexander replied, his voice was barely a whisper. "Don't tempt me to waste one of your incarnations."

"Alex? Rory?"

"I still have five incarnations to go before I die, March. And I don't think you'll last long enough to waste it all,"

Diamonds shards began to sprout on Alexander's arm. "What I can tell about me is that I'm a hybrid," he said slowly. "Hybrid Human alien, as you can see now."

"A hybrid Petrosapiens… that's new," Historian said, raising her eyebrow. "But I suppose if a hybrid Pyronite (_Heatblast_)-human existed, why not?"

"Good. Now, Lucian! Aim for the Stelan VI," Alexander ordered. "Somebody is waiting for us there."

"Who?"

"… The last heir of Omnitrix," he said. "Reno, he had something to give to you. You have to go there alone."

**IXI**

Richardson Tennyson was standing there, waiting for him. His hair had grown into the same state as Alexander's: waist long and unkempt. He still has the cold look in his eyes, although the light on it was a bit put out, like a very, very tired person.

Reno was about to shout in both anger and happiness when the Tennyson started to flicker out of focus.

"It's no time to say hi, Reno. This body you see now is just a mere solidified afterimage I left before I was attacked," he said calmly. The proof was immediately apparent as his body kept on flickering like a weak hologram. "I need you to wear this, Reno."

A metallic sphere appeared on the air in front of the said redhead. The sphere opened, revealing a bulky watch-like device with the hourglass-like insignia of Omnitrix on its round face. This Omnitrix however, instead of the black-white-and-green ones, was blue-black-and-white coloured.

"My father left me an unfinished Omnitrix, so I completed what he had started. I put some of the genetic code of Galliray's Experiments and some extinct and unknown species inside that Omnitrix, so it now contained eleven-thousand aliens instead of ten-thousand. Although only eleven will available for now," Richard said as his image flickered more and more. "Reno, you're the Omnitrix bearer now. There is no reason for you not to fight your brother now."

"But… How am I going to fight him?!" Reno shouted. "Your father is no match for him and then what make me have the better chance than him?"

"You had the Omnitrix version 2.0 and you had to live up the name of your ancestor, Reno," Richard replied. "As evil as he was, Kevin is a relentless fighter. Take his strength and threw away his weakness."

"You're reminding me of my crappy lineage? Is being the descendant of Kevin Levin is something to be proud of?"

"... I'm sorry, but this afterimage's responses are limited. You had to ask the right question," Richard said curtly. "Ask again."

"Alright, what do you want me to do?" Reno said as he closed the metal sphere back. "What do I have to do?"

"That, Reno, is the right question," Richard said firmly. "You know what to do. But mark my word: do not make any Omnitrix for your children, so your descendant would not suffer the same fate as me."

And with that, the afterimage dissolved into nothingness, leaving a lock of black hairs in its place. Reno picked the hairs up before opening the metal sphere carrying the Omnitrix. The faint light and the familiar noise the watch-like device made him shudder. Nobody ever dreamed he would be the Omnitrix wielder, but he was now.

The Omnitrix jumped into his left wrist, merging with his body and admitting him as the next wielder of its power. Its face rose up, showing a burly werewolf-like silhouette. "I swear, Richard, wherever you are, I'll win this war for you."

**IXI**

_

* * *

_

Note that even if Re

_no got the Omnitrix Version 2.0 that does not necessarily mean that he was the main man now. The Main 'Puppeteer' will still be our not-so-beloved Richard._

_I note that people began making hunch__es about Alexander being Richardson Tennyson but no one can explain why. Hmm... interesting theory, but is it true? Remember that Richard had access to 10000 alien powers, including shape-shifting (like Goop and Upgrade), morphing (like the Limaxes and Sludges), and making clones (like Ditto and Echo-Echo), so he can be _anyone _and_ anything

_Keep reading and find out__!_


	11. Chapter 11

_A/n: __Note that I _never_ say that Alexander is _not_ Richard. I merely said that Richard could be anyone or in two places at once, so keep your eyes peeled for clues._

_A/N 2: Anybody who read this chapter, get ready for a great dirty shock. But whatever you do, don't give me flames, okay?_

**

* * *

**

Chapter 11

"_Big Minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small mind discuss people."—Unknown_

**Lilith Ariel**

The Traveller and the Historian (_now Trav and Corey (Reno's ideas))_ was strange enough, now Reno's the Omnitrix wielder? What is happening to this world?

The redhead however, was not his usual grinning-and-dumb self. He was more reserved and serious, although he was still capable of cracking a bad joke regardless the situation was. But he lost the constant grin on his face and his usual jovial attitude.

However, she had another problem in her mind: Lucian. She knew that Phanteas-Vampiria uses blood they drank as the main fuel of their power so Lucian was no different. If he drank blood, he gained super strength, speed, reflexes, and also the blood controlling ability. The problem was when Lucian began to experiment with his power, resulting in repeated collapses due to severe anaemia he suffered each time he let his blood out.

Matt was still in his hibernation state and Ellie was keeping herself close to him. Alexander said that if Vulpimancer hibernation state was a crucial state when a young Vulpimancer built up cellular energy (_whatever that was_) so they could grow their tail and strengthened their limbs. If this state was disrupted, there was a good chance that Matt could be deformed or paralysed for life.

It was less than three week away from the De-Mat firing but the tension was already running high. Silver shut himself inside his quarry, mentally attacking anyone who dared to approach him. Ralph, Alex, Leon, and Edward constantly trained themselves on the cargo bay, causing massive damage that did not soothe Lucian's temper. Corey wouldn't be seen without a dirty great book on her clutch or lap. Heat and Lucian kept on having fights with one another. Trav gone missing more and more often. And last, but not least, Jasmine's feistiness increased five folds.

One day, Alexander received a visual call from a long haired marksman (_Lilith knew because of his cowboy hat_), informing that the others were ready to move out.

"I understand, Sky. Please inform Lupine as fast as you can," Alex replied. He turned towards Lilith, Lucian, and Reno who were watching his conversation with Sky. "We are ready to move out anytime. Call the others."

**IXI**

The De-Mat facility was huge, even if viewed from the orbital view on the screen. The large cannon's barrel was pointed skyward, ready to fire as soon as it finished its preparation.

"Listen up. There's two De-Mat cannons, one is here, the other is somewhere far away," Alexander said when they briefed their mission. "Sky's team is taking care of the other one, so it's up to us to take care of this one.

"But things are not that simple when you're dealing with Calrizeus. He assigned the High Generals on the De-Mat cannons. Unfortunately, Rufus is stationed on the one that Sky's team is taking care of and General Ericson Frontiere, the strongest amongst the Generals."

"What? He's a human right?" Reno prompted as he unconsciously fiddled with his Omnitrix. "Surely he's not a mutant like me or hybrid Omnitrix like Richard."

"Correction: a Timateus," Corey (_Historian_) said. "He has the power to control time as he pleases. His real title is not High Generals, but Time-Master."

"What the hell is a Timateus?"

"A very, very, very ancient race," Alexander said, taking over from Corey. "Timateus was amongst the very first sentient species to emerge in the universe, that's the reason why most sentient species are humanoid: because of the echoes the Timateus leave on the universe. Timateus did not look like Human, _Human_ look _like_ them. We often said that other species beside human had 'humanoid' body, but the correct term is 'timateunoid'."

Lilith began to brood over it. It actually made sense since most species known in the universe was humanoid shaped. She also remembered the _Tales of the Side_ she had read. It said that two sentient race that could control time emerged before any other planet had a primitive microorganism in them. "So they're what make human? Like god or something?"

"No, but they are the blueprints of the sentient races. The design of their body echoed throughout the universe and got altered to suit specific planets," Corey said, finishing Alexander's explanation. "They're well-adapted for time travel because they developed an attachment to the time and space continuum. They can alter the past freely without affecting themselves."

"So... What's that suppose to mean?" Lilith asked. Science was not her forte and it will never be.

"It mean that he can go back into the past and make every one of us here cease to exist by preventing of our birth," Alexander stated matter-of-factly, yielding a eerie silence from the others. "But don't worry too much, though, Timateuses has a strict policy of minimizing damages. Any other form of interference for personal gain will violate their mental lock, which can result death for them."

"Kronus or Uranus in ancient Greek and Roman legends is actually referring to a single Timateus called 'The Creator', who did not posses the usual mental lock. He was the one that placed the Non-Humanoid Ban in the universe," Corey continued. "Because of the Ban, no non-humanoid sentient species can develop further than Stone Age. The Ban will either suppress the intellect of a non-humanoid sentient being or caused a major flaw on their body design when they tried to adapt with their planet.

"Vulpimancer was one of victims of this Ban. They lack of eyes are caused by their animalistic body on the early stage of their sentiency evolution, which invoked the Ban. Although they evolved into a humanoid species later on, the damage is done."

Silence fell over them like a barrelful of molten lead. There were many primitive and seriously flawed species in the universe, but Lilith thought that it was no one's blame. She thought that the body design's flaws and primitive ways of some species was the way they adapt to their environment, but the reason for that, as Corey had revealed, _was_ someone's fault.

The Creator, whoever he was, was a cruel with the universe and life inside it. He didn't give chances for some species to enjoy the universe the way some other did. Matt for instances, was ecstatic when he first turned into human, according to Ellie, mainly because of the eyes that allowed him to enjoy the world as human does. Human was lucky because their ancestor was shaped like the Timateus.

The Creator had played with the universe and acted a god, all because of their control over Time.

"Hmm... Nevertheless, all I can say about this is the Timateus 'time manipulating' power can be proved as problematic," Lucian said thoughtfully as Lilith tried to look for comfort on him by resting her head on his shoulder. He was pale and almost unhealthy, but he demanded to take part in the mission. "If I'm not mistaken, Benjamin Tennyson had battled with an entity named Eon, who can manipulate time as well. He only defeated him after the Omnitrix gained Eon's form, which enabled him to counter the time manipulation.

"As far as I concerned, the only way to combat time-based power user is another time-based power user," Lucian shot an expectant glare to Reno. "Reno, do your Omnitrix have Eon's form unlocked right now?"

"Umm… no. I've tried two forms, and all of them are completely unknown to me," Reno said, scratching his head. "I can barely control whatever power they have. And not even the Galvans' Database had them in."

"… Let's try mastering it, now," Alexander said decidedly as he rose from his seat. "Historian, you come with us. You know how Reno's going to master his power, so you can help me training him," he continued, although his tone of voice said that he already knew the answer for his inquiry.

"… I am sorry but I'm not allowed to do that," Corey said flatly. "I'm not allowed to reveal any events that will happen to you. I'm only allowed to reveal the past event from this time period."

"… Then help him mastering his power by telling him about the alien he become," Lilith said, almost pleadingly. "You _can_ do that, can you?"

"I'm not allowed to do that either. I cannot do any interference to change the outcome of this event," she said, turning away from them. "I cannot do anything beside to watch and record. My predecessors and I have a mental lock, similar to Timateuses', which prevent me from interfering directly."

Lucian stood up, looking sharply at Corey. "Then Alex is right, you _are_ a hyena," he said coldly. "C'mon Reno. You need to master that Omnitrix, now. You're the Omnitrix wielder so you cannot afford to play around like a monkey

"And don't bother with her."

**IXI**

**Reno Levin**

Lucian was panting, and so was Reno. He was in a form that he nicknamed as 'Fearfang', which was a fitting name because of the look of the alien that resembled a cross between long furred werewolf and a sabre tooth cat.

Fearfang was about three metre tall and had a pair of long upper fangs that goes until it reached his upper chest. The brown fur-coated body of Fear Fang was so muscled and powerful that the new Omnitrix bearer felt that if he moved carelessly, his steel-and-wire muscles might tore his skin. The long, cruelly hooked and jagged claws growing out of all his paws were not helping the unknown werewolf-alien reducing its scary score.

"What do you know? This mangy mutt is quite a fighter," Lucian commented as he downed another flask of blood (_earth's cat blood_) to fuel his super strength. His strength was equal to a Tetramand (_Fourarms, if anybody forgot_), but Fearfang was able to overpower him during a raw strength match. "You're getting the hang of this over-the-top strength."

"Thanks," Reno said as he lunged forward for the umpteenth time, harassing the magnificent power of the Fearfang's muscles. Lucian unfolded his wings and took off just in time because Fearfang's stroke caused a crater-like dent on the place where he was standing ten second ago. "I just can't stop when I'm Fearfang! I'm unstoppable and...."

The Omnitrix insignia on Reno's forehead flashed red three times before letting out a blinding flash of red light, leaving Reno on his own human form. "Aw, man! Darn you and your freakin' timeout!" he shouted to the watch on his left wrist.

"Let's just rest for a while," Alexander suggested, looking up from the little pocket book he was reading. "Omnitrix's will reset after a while. You haven't mastered it or unlock the master code, so you better get use to it."

"So... we know that Fearfang equal strength, Goldstrike," Reno said, referring to a humanoid eagle-like species with yellowish feathers, beautiful blue feather crown, and cruelly jagged and hooked beak and a collapsible wings on its arms, which end on a four-toed talons. "Equal agility and super-sight while Treebeard," Reno paused, remembering the seven metres humanoid tree alien with beared humanly face with the power to make plants fight for him. Treebeard had a strong will implemented on its DNA, almost making Reno lose control of himself when he transformed into the tree alien." is plant control and strength."

"... Goldstrike proved to be the one that is the most useful for our mission," Lucian said, taking a great gulp of Blood Elixir to cleanse the trace of cat's blood from his system. "It got decent strength, speed, and keen eyes we need desperately. With Matt's heat scanning's out of commission, Goldstrike keen eyes is to only thing we can rely on."

"Yeah, I can spot a puny black ant on your hair from a hundred metres away," Reno agreed, taking great gulps of waters. "So... ready to test the next one? Once the Omnitrix reset, I'll be ready to rock and roll again."

"But I'm curious of this new… aliens, however," said Lucian thoughtfully. "Fearfang for example. It seemed so… different from any species I have seen, but appears that it had some kind of relationship with the Lycanninoid.

"First, it had the same body shape, albeit the long tail Fearfang has. Second, their strength-based ability is too similar."

Alexander closed his book and threw an unreadable glance to the pale captain. "Fearfang species name is...." he recited an unpronounceable word that sounded like a series of growls and howls. "Which translate quite literally to 'Fanged-folk', a major tribe of the...." he said another unpronounceable word. "Beastfolks. Treebeard's species is called the Antish, which translate into 'Trees Shepherd' or 'Treefolk'.

"In case you're wondering, I managed to convince Historian to tell him the species we need to know," Alexander said when he noticed Reno's strange glare. "Technically, if I decided to help us afterwards, Historian is not interfering directly. Therefore, she's not violating her mental lock."

"Well... she tried to help too..." Reno trailed, guilt had washed over him. Whoever Corey was, she was a woman and Reno did not have the making of hurting a woman. Like his cousin always said: '_always respect a woman, Reno. Only one man became the leader of a thousand men, but each of them followed the lead of a woman_.' "Guess we had to say sorry to her."

"You can say sorry later, she's crying her eye out," a voice belonged to Trav the Traveller said suddenly, nearly giving the redhead a heart attack.

"Trav!! Where the darned heck did you crawl in from!?"

"I'm not some kind of bug or lizard and you know that," Trav said indignantly. "Sheesh, you're really giving Historian a hard time, you know that? The only one around here that pay her some respect is Alex. She's had a load to do. Recording history and keeping herself on the neutral side is a very hard job.

"So sometimes, she breaks down to tears, although she never admitted it in front of anybody."

"Oh, words from a man that vanished into thin air every now and then like a will-o-wisp," Lucian said dismissively. "Anyway, where have you been? I don't think there's any pod or small ship leaving the _Lunarcruiser_."

"Just travelling for a bit, stretching my leg and clear up my mind, you know. I don't get called the Traveller for nothing," Trav said, checking his watch. Reno noticed a fresh cut on his cheek, but it was probably from bad shaving. "Anyway, have anyone had lunch already? I'm starving."

"Lucian drank a hell lot of blood, but the rest of us haven't had any lunch just yet. But I do think Lilith and Ellie are preparing it for us," Alexander said, returning to his book. "Any minute from now."

Trav checked his watch again. "Don't worry, we'll be called for lunch in five... four... three... two... one..."

The intercom on the cargo bay crackled to life and Lilith spoke through it when the word 'one' left Trav's mouth. "Hey, lunch is ready! Get your bots down here before it gets cold!" she said before promptly disconnecting the intercom.

Reno's jaw was on the floor while Lucian was staring in amazement with Trav's prediction. Alexander however, remained unfazed. "C'mon you two, I'm starving," Trav said happily as he followed the scarfed mercenary to the dining quarry. "Wonder what's in it for me? Maybe there's cheesecake or ice cream for desert."

Reno and Lucian stayed for a bit before Reno spoke again. "Don't you think Trav is a bit too... accurate with time?" he said. "I mean, he kept every countdown, like when Silver is going out or when Heat and you are going to a shout-fest."

"I second that. And I also noticed that he can tell time just by smelling his surrounding," Lucian agreed as his gaze followed the Traveller. "He is too accurate. I wonder if he keeps the countdown of the end of the world."

**IXI**

**Karen Frontiere (formerly Sinceria)**

**De-Mat Facility XIDA-01**

"Antonio, have you seen Eric?" Karen asked to the Spanish teenager, who was balancing himself on a finger to train his endurance.

"Huh? Oh, I think he went into one of the rooms in the TR complex," Antonio panted, concentrating his whole attention on not falling down. In the Training Gym, most of the Special Squad leaders, except for Kid (_who was at the gun range_), were training and improving themselves.

Karen knew which room that her husband entered. So she thanked Antonio before navigating her way to a special room that only she and her husband entered: the Zero Room.

She stopped on a white door, which only she could see before gently opening it. Inside it was a pure white room where the air felt lighter and Karen's writs watch stopped. Her husband was suspended in mid-air, as if supported by an invisible bed. His blue-eyes were half-closed but his breathing was calm, signifying sleep. His left sleeve was pulled back, revealing a carbon-steel prosthetic arm.

She smiled at the sight of her sleeping husband. Zero Room was the best way for Eric could recuperate because it was not affected by the time and space outside. The time inside the Zero Room literally stopped and physics went haywire and as a Timateus, every thing that happened in the universe timeline will be felt by him, adding to the burden of his thought. He felt every killing, sadness, sorrow, and agony that happened and Karen couldn't imagine how he coped with all that burdens.

Eric's eyelid fluttered when he sensed his wife's presence. "Hey, Karen. What are you doing in here?" he said as he got up. "If you're not an Immortal, I don't know what happen to you now. Even then, the condition of Zero Room is not adequate for any other life form then Timateus."

"Well, I become Immortal in the first time to spend my life with you," Karen said lightly. "You spent more and more time in here, care to tell me why?"

Eric didn't answer her wife's question. "It's the De-Mat isn't it? You hear the scream of all people that perished when the De-Mat is fired, aren't you?" she said, brushing the stray gold lock from his azure eyes.

"That and... I felt... a presence of another Timateus..." Eric said. Karen noted a drop of happiness in his voice. "It means that I'm not the last one anymore, somebody must've survived the Time War."

A Timateus always felt each other presence as long they were in the same time period. "But who is it?" she asked. "You said that everyone you know, from the Professor to the Jester, is dead."

"I had my guess, but all of them seemed to be uneducated," Eric said as he closed his eyes. "But I could feel interference, so it must be somebody that can interfere directly with time, probably from the High Order or the President himself."

"Aren't you worried? You're exiled because of your absolute mastery of the Timestream that even the President couldn't match," Karen said slowly. "_I_'m worried, because if it somebody from the High Order, I'll lose you for sure..."

"...So let it happen, Karen," Eric said, there was steel in his voice. "De-Mat is a Timateus forbidden technology that only the Emperor President have the access to. I've breached the rule by accessing the Timateus Matrix, even if I was tricked to do it."

"Just because you're the Time-Master, it does not mean everything that happen in this universe is your fault," Karen said softly. "You're special. You're the only one who is not afraid to love someone beside a Timateus lady even if your mental lock forbade it. You've sacrificed so many things for the universe that I lost count of it."

The Time-Master touched his T.S.A.R (_TimeStream Ark Replicator_), a silver watch-like device that all Timateuses were equipped with. The device beeped as it activated itself under its master's touch and the considerably large display screen began to display strange letters of the Timateus language. "It is fifteen days, eight hours, thirty minutes, fifty-five second, and one hundred nanosecond before the De-Mat is fired," he said as he looked to toward his T.S.A.R. "Maybe there's something I could do to stop this madness...."

"Then let's do it together," Karen said, hooking her arm to her husband's. "I'm a council member and you're a High General, there's a lot of thing that we can do with our authority."

"That's... an abuse of power," Eric said as he kissed her cheek. "You're in so much trouble, you know that?"

"Try me, because that's exactly what I'm going to do," Karen said naughtily. "Abusing my power. Alia will help too. She voted against the De-Mat, right?"

"Well, if we can delay it longer, we might have a chance of stopping it from firing," Eric said, raking his intelligent brain to weight every possibility. "The Rebel force will inevitably tried to stop the De-Mat. We can use this situation to stop this madness. The other Timateus will also try to direct the rebel soldiers so they can disable it perfectly."

He paused suddenly. "You... not going to rat on me would you?" he said hesitantly. "I know what I'm saying is classified as treason and..."

"Nah, I'm fine with your plotting for the Order's downfall as long you're with me. But before that, let's go home," Karen pulled her husband closer to her. "You're well past your curfew, Ericson Frontiere. And you know what the punishment is, aren't you?"

"Please don't give me cheesecake for desert, _again_," Eric pleaded. "You know that some component in human-made cheese has the effect of alcoholic drink on Timateus."

Karen sighed playfully. "That's whole point. I tried to get you drunk," she said naughtily. "Alcohol clear your mind, but give you giddiness as a side effect, not very helpful to me."

**IXI**

**Nichovillan Stallingard**

**Desert planet of Araganavi**

With jaws filled with sharp serrated teeth, the werewolf Caninoid lunged toward the last heir of the Tennyson. Richard deftly and almost lazily dodged his attack and sent a jet of fiery trails toward the albino Caninoid.

Nichov was fighting against Richardson Tennyson with a help of the last and only Penumbral, Harun Ibn Abbas, the leader of the Elemental Squadron.

Penumbral was the strongest mana controller and reality warper in the universe, even Andonite mages and Celestialsapiens (_Alien X_) was not a match for them. They could control their surrounding, even creating a living creatures from something intangible such as lightning or fire in just a blink of an eye. The problem with their power was they had their limit because their power, like the Andonite, was driven by mana, making the Celestialsapiens a better equipped reality warper than them.

Harun blew a sweet tune from his flute, summoning large clumps of black cloud on the sky as he played. He stopped suddenly and pointed his flute toward the male Tennyson. "Lightning of the North! Come forth and strike my enemy!" he shouted on the top his lungs. From the black cloud came a ferocious barrage of lighting that struck the ground, creating a burned crater where even the rock and sand melted due to intense heat.

In the middle of the crater was a crystalline dome, from which Richard emerged. He raised his hand, summoning a dark cloud of his own. But instead of calling a lightning to strike his opponents, he called for a heavy douse of rains.

Harun quickly erected a barrier of solidified sand before the rain hit him. "Curse you! Stop showering me with water!" he said agitatedly. He was weak to water because of his hydrophobia, and if it touched him, his fear would extinguish his power. "Lightning Serpent of North! Appear and devour my foe!"

Nichov put a smoke pellets inside his mouth and chewed it. Just to let you know, smoke pellets tastes like a fire was lit inside your mouth, so don't try this at home. Soon, steams gushed from his between his teeth and from his nostrils. He drew a long breath before letting it out from his mouth, spewing a trail of flame that was aimed for Richard.

The lightning serpent which descended from the sky and Nichov's own fire-breath hit the last known Tennyson together. The lightshow might appear on someone's horizon, and no doubt that they would wonder what it was. "Grrrrr (_it is done_)?" Nichov growled softly. But his answer came with a fist in his gut.

Nichov considerably light body was thrown away into a considerable distance before he could stop himself by digging his claws to the ground. "Graaaoo! Rhaaaar! (_Harun! Use Firestorm to distract him!_)" He shouted as he prepared to lunge on the Tennyson. Harun nodded as he jumped from the ground, flute ready to summon the storm of fire.

"Firestorm of West! Rage and engulf the enemy of mine!" he said. A halo of fire formed around him and in an instant, spread to all direction, engulfing everything in its fiery rage. Nichov run on all four, crouching low and going as fast as he could to minimize the burn caused by the raging firestorm. He followed the faint scent hidden within the smell of burning sand and stone that lead him into Richardson.

He sunk his teeth into something fleshy, and in one swift move, severed it from anything it was attached on. When the firestorm died down, in his wolfish snout was a charred remains of a human hand. But its owner, Richard, was unfazed by the storm of fire. Missing an arm, yes, but uninjured otherwise, he's not even bleeding.

To make matter worse, the severed arm grew back again in just a matter of moment. "What's the matter, Wolf the Reaper?" he asked disdainfully. "You've tried to lure me by hurting my former friend but you can't drag me when you find what you want.

"I can clearly say that I'm... disappointed," he finished as he raised both of his hand to the air. "Armageddon."

A gigantic ball of fire appeared on the air. It was created using the Pyronite latent pyrokinetic ability. "This is proving as a problematic situation," Harun said as he prepared a counter spell. "Armageddon is a technique first used by Benjamin Tennyson and it had proved itself as a very destructive attack.

"Sand Beast of the East! Come and protect thy master!" he chanted. His chant was answered by the sand, which started to stir and formed a large humanoid creature with horn-filled head and lipless mouth. The strongarm s of the creature enclosed the two Squad Leaders inside them and protecting them further by turning its great back on the growing fireball.

The mini-sun fell down to them with all it fury. The Sand Beast roared without a voice when its back received the full blast of the Armageddon. Nichov could feel the heat from the attack as it melt the sands, turning them into solid rocks. "Hmm, it is stronger than I previously thought," Harun murmured, if he had a beard, he would've stroke it. "Nichov, I wonder what will defeat him?"

"Hrrrrr Rhaaa (_I'm sorry to do this, Harun_)," Nichov said inaudibly. He then proceeded on punching the Arabian Penumbral on right on his nose. Harun's nose was bleeding but not broken and the owner was obviously livid.

"THAT FREAKING HURT!!" he shouted angrily. The thing that Nichov wanted to happen happened immediately: Harun started to grow bigger. His sudden growth did not stop until he was fifteen metre taller than massive Sand Beast he had created earlier. When Angered, Harun will enlarge like Vaxasaurian (_Humongousaur_), but unlike the said species, his enlargement was only limited by the boundaries between the atmosphere and the outer space for an obvious reason. In addition of being almost invincible, his mana level and strength increases proportionally to his size.

Problem was, he went into a kind berserk mode when he did this and contact with water reverses his transformation.

Harun raised his large fist and struck at Richard's direction. His hit was so strong it caused an earthquake when it hit the ground. Naturally, Richard had dodged them. "A strong attack is worthless if it cannot hit its target," he said flatly. "In other hand, weak attacks that hit its target are the perfect way to fell you opponents."

He steadied his feet and began to run. He used his Kineceleran power as he ran, making him a black and pinkish blur in the eye of the giant Harun. Nichov's assassin eyes however, easily followed the Tennyson's movements as he repeatedly slashed Harun's feet.

Harun yelled in pain and tried to strike the agile Tennyson using a series of seriously mighty lightning strikes and punches. But no matter how many craters the lighting and his fist created; they didn't even grazed a hair off his opponent.

"Rhhhhaaaaa (_He's playing on us_)," Nichov growled as the pattern in Richard's attack began to emerge. Richard was attacking for a period of two second before retreating back away from Harun's increasingly ferocious wrath. "Graaogaa (_He's not even using half of his wit for us_)!"

"Well, play this then!" Harun shouted as he let out a deck of tarot-like cards. The cards quickly grew to a much larger version to match its wielder large size. Then the cards flew up and circled on the top of the battlefield. He then erected a barrier of pure mana around him and the white haired Caninoid to protect themselves from what he was about to do.

"Eat, Megaton Mana Cannon!"

The flying cards glowed bright white as it circled faster and faster until it looked like a hollow white circle. Then from the centre, a pillar of blue light shot out and engulfed Richard and a large portion of the desert, disintegrating everything on its path and burning everything in vicinity like a pillar of blue flame.

The pillar of light devastated the already barren and wasted desert and creating a large gaping hole. Nichov could see flashes of magma's red glow from the hole, which quickly rose up and spewed forth. The magma that was stored deep within the planet's bowel had come forth because of Harun's reckless use of mass destruction magic. Nichov had no choice but to record this event and tell the High Generals about it, which possibly yielded a serious warning for Harun.

"I'm in trouble, am I?" Harun asked tentatively as Nichov wrapped his scarf back in place. "Nichov, be honest with me, please. I'm in trouble, right?"

The only thing left from the last Heir of Omnitrix was ash that was blown away by the gentle wind and a lock of burned black hair.

Nichov nodded nonchalantly in satisfaction and as an answer to Harun's tentative question. At long last, the last Tennyson was dead and the Order was safe.

**IXI**

**Lilia Ariel**

More than a thousand light years away from the scene of the fearsome fight, Lilia Ariel woke up screaming. Her pained and grief-stricken scream echoed across the entire hospital she was placed in.

"No, please no!" she screamed over and over again. "Don't take him! Take me, but not him! DON'T TAKE HIM AWAY FROM ME!!!!"

**IXIXIXI**

_

* * *

_

Richard is dead! (Sing) Finally Richard is dead so everything must change, nothing stays the same.... um... sorry, I can't resist.

_Sorry for Richard's fan, he's dead. Let me spell it for you: D-E-A-D and because this is a Sci-fi story, there's no way to resurrect dead people. I'm so sorry _(unapologetic_). I also admit that I made up about the Vulpimancer hibernation state._

_Anyway, National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) test is coming earlier than I thought, in May to be exact. My boss (parents and teachers) are hassling me to study because if I fail... well, you know. So I think that the next update will be a bit late._


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

**Alicia Tennyson**

Lilia was extremely distressed during the night after she woke up screaming for Alicia's father and creator, and the news on the morning had driven her literally to a near insane state.

The news said that Richardson Tennyson was killed by the assassin squad under the charge of treason and mutiny against the Order of Galliray. He was tracked to the Arganavi planet, where he was executed on place and without a trial. And assassin squad, as usual, destroyed their victim body after they killed them, although the leader brought a lock of hair that was identified as Richardson's hair by DNA testing.

Mistress Lilia shrieked when she heard the news, a one long, grief-stricken and pained shriek that echoed through the whole hospital. It had dawned to her that there was no hope of meeting the last of Tennyson once again. Then she tried to commit a suicide by stabbing herself, which Victor and Alicia foiled thanks to Victor paralysing bolt.

During the night, Lupine visited Alicia like he had done for the six months ever since she met him. She just finished putting her Mistress to sleep so she will not be able to do anything that might hurt herself for a while. "I presumed that the bubbly newsreader's news had driven her to this state?" the shadow thief said as he put on an examining eyepiece to examine the diamond he just stole. "Hmm... good quality... forty-five carats with a good transparency and light reflecting properties. It could fetch about ten-thousand Unicredits on the intergalactic market."

"I... I don't know what to do, Lupine," Alicia admitted reluctantly as she took a seat in front of the black-clad thief. "Father's are so strong in many ways that I could barely imagine how strong he is, yet he..."

"Anything that live must die," Lupine said indifferently and shrugged carelessly. "Even you, Alicia, will reach a time when you will 'die'. Not that will come in a hurry, anyway."

Alicia fell silent. She always quailed under Lupine's luminescent red eyes for a reason that she might never now. "But what about the Immortal?" she said. "They never die, no matter what you do with them."

"Immortal experiment like Dragonmaster and his sisters will also die," Lupine said firmly, shaking his head slightly. "One day, their body will tire and wither. Try to accept it, Alicia; if there are things that we cannot escape from, they're changes, history, and death."

Alicia let out a heavy sigh. "Lupine, may I ask something?" she said after a long pause.

"You just did, but please continue."

"Lupine, what is your real name?"

Lupine raised an eyebrow in an intriguing puzzled expression before letting out a grim and humourless laughter. "Well, you can call me criminals, humbug, thief, robber, burglar, immoral, and many more if you want to," he laughed. "I threw my real name away, Alicia. It had brought so much shame and darkness in them."

"Then who are you before you become Lupine?" Alicia said, dragging her chair closer to the gentleman burglar. "Like you said, you've changed from someone to your present self, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am homeless, wretched, useless, poor, and starved," Lupine said, flashing his sadistic but somewhat ironic grin. "I have a dark and brutal past, Alicia, all gentlemen thieves does. I doubt that you want to even take a glance at them."

Silence, then…. "Oi, can you open this window, please?" a muffled voice said, accompanied by three taps from the window. "Lupine you dumbass! Open this, dammit!"

Alicia spun around and saw the owner of the voice. It was a man in a grey suit, complete with same coloured tie and fedora hat (_A hat that Indiana Jones often wore_) perched on the window's sill. The man's neck length black hair fell carelessly, leaving some lock of stray hair obscuring his dark eyes and he also carried a long black umbrella, which he rested on his shoulder. Lupine heaved a sigh as he stood up and walked toward the window. "Trilby, please keep your manner," he said as he opened the window. "The third rule of gentlemen thieves: Keep your manner at every time."

"Oh, I'll be polite alright, if I don't have to look for you in the past three month using silly internet as my only resources," the other man grumbled grudgingly. "Anyway, I have a message for you, from Cross."

"Cross?" Alicia looked to Lupine's suddenly bleak face.

"Another thief, like me and Trilby here," Lupine explained patiently. "There are five major gentlemen thieves from Human origin. They are Cross, Trilby, Noir, Rena, and Me."

"Yeah, and that's all you need to know, for now," Trilby said as he produced a small piece of paper. "I can only track you just because of that diamond you just stole. If not, I'll be wandering somewhere in Italy or Africa."

Lupine took a quick glance on the paper and nodded. Alicia knew that Lupine could read much faster than normal people and he was a walking data bank. "What is it?"

"Oh shut up, young lass. You had nothing to do with it," Trilby said as he examined Lilia's sleeping form. "By the way, what's her story?"

"GET YOUR HANDS OF MY MISTRESS OR I'LL SERIOUSLY GONNA KILL YOU!!!"

"You don't know how much I wanted to say 'go ahead', Alicia, but just a moment," Lupine chuckled. "Trilby here is prone to get into troubles, like his famous ancestor, Trilby the First does."

"Yeah, my silly great-great-great-great-grandfather got into a haunted manor just to get easy loot," Trilby said scathingly. "And what did he get? A wandering spirit that is driven to kill him until it grown so scared of him that his mere presence was enough to restrain that retard of a spirit."

"Rule number six: Watch your language all the time."

"Ah shaddup! Who are you, my mom?"

"No, but remember rule number five: be courteous towards women, especially your mother," Lupine said, grinning. Obviously, he was taking a great satisfaction on making other people frustrated. "I know you're irritated, but please keep the Ten Rule of Gentlemen Thief."

"Oh yeah, and you forgot rule number two: Respect and Honour fellow gentlemen thieves," Trilby said in irritation. "_I_ knew the rule by heart, you grinning maniac. My said ancestor wrote that rule in addition of putting the Art of Theft principal."

He waved his long umbrella so the sharp tip was pointing at Lilia. Even though it was an offhand gesture, Alicia misinterpreted as a threat to her mistress. "Excuse me, but I wanted you to leave," she said suddenly in monotonous voice as she formed her hand into a large blade. She could do this because her body was made out of Bio-Crystal, which can shift its molecules structures around. "Act of brandishing weapon to my mistress is not tolerated by my programming. I deemed you as a threat to my Mistress."

"You're looking for a punch up? Fine by me," Trilby said ominously as he pulled the hooked umbrella handle, exposing a gleaming silver blade hidden within it. "Just to let you know, this umbrella contained more uses than what you can count with your fingers and your toes."

Lupine shook his head and sighed as he put his jewelled sceptre between them. "Rule number one: never deliberately hurt others unless for self-defence," he stated calmly. "That applies to you too, Alicia."

Trilby grunted disapprovingly as he sheathed the gleaming blade back. "If you say things that offend me once more, I solemnly swear that I'm going to punch you," he said as he walked over to the window. He jumped to the sill and pointed his umbrella to the sky. "See you later, goof."

Then the tip of his black umbrella turned into a four-way hook and shot upward, followed by a long thin cord. Trilby yanked his umbrella three times, making sure that the hook was strong enough to hold his weight before pressing a button on the handle umbrella's handle. The grappling hook pulled him up and in just a matter of moment, he vanished from sight.

"A grappling hook disguised as an umbrella, clever," Lupine commented as he closed the window to answer Alicia's questioning stare. "Trilby is a thief, a technical genius, a spy, a tracker, and a competent crime-solver all rolled in one package. His manner is a bit on the poor side, but his skill on tracking loots and people through, pardon me, 'crappy' resources, like the internet or newspaper, is unmatched.

"It is likely that Cross send him for a mission, but what?"

**IXI**

**Edward Rhein**

A week before the firing of the De-Mat was D-Day for their mission. Everyone was ready for the mission of disabling the De-Mat cannon, even for Corey who decided to record this event by herself so the record would not be tainted by inaccuracy and biased feelings.

They landed on the flat plains, dotted with large boulders and trees in which the gleaming silver facility was built. The plan was for him, Reno in his Treebeard form, and Alexander to start the siege. And they did.

Reno roared in the slow and deep voice of the tree-creature, urging the trees to wake from their slumber. The trees around the plain answered back with a slow and deep roar of themselves before uprooting t from the ground, forming a pair of rough and dirtied legs from their roots. Soon, an army of moving trees surged toward the De-Mat facility, launching boulders as deadly missiles in their attack.

Edward bunched all the power his bulging muscles could muster as he hit the front gate. All that power and he only created a small dent on the front gate. He repeated the hit countless time until he was almost exhausted by his own effort. "Darn it! If we can't enter the facility, all that planning is just a waste!" he shouted in frustration as he began to charge with his shoulder, but not to avail.

"Use Limitation Release," Alexander shouted as he disabled the defence turrets one by one by slashing the base using a pair of crystal blade he created himself. "If you lose control, I'll restrain you."

Edward refused at first, but then he realized has no choice but to put all his faith on him and perform what he feared most. He closed his eyes, drawing in a deep breath and releasing all of them out from both his nostrils and mouth. He imagined himself going through the dark void of his mind, reaching for the chain rattling that echoed through the void.

Then it was blackness...

**IXI**

"_So... thought you never come here again,_" a chained Edward sneered. He was standing, chained and burdened, in front of a prison-like cell. "_Thought you never need me again, aren't you?_"

The 'real' Edward was in his black haired, blue-eyed human form lowered his head in shame. "I'm sorry..." he said bashfully. "I just can't let you destroy..."

"_You do realize that it was _your_ nature,_" the other Edward said. "_You are the bearer of one of the Sacred Beasts, get used to it, you softy!_"

"Then please give me power," Edward said. "I want to help my friends. Destroy to protect my friend."

"_Ah__I thought I knew that voice.__Tell me,__child, who you want to kill now, hmm?_" a dark and malevolent voice said from the shadow beyond the bars. The tone was smooth, rubbing off like a sheet of velvet, but in same time, struck fear to anyone that heard it. "_Just tell me... and I'll do your dirty work for you._"

"NO! You just do what you done before!"

"_Ha, you just a coward,_" the chained Edward said with an unneeded scorn. "_But for these puny soldiers, my power would be enough. _You_ don't have to get involved._"

The owner of the malevolent voice moved forward into the light, illuminating its gigantic fox-like head in the process. Each one of its teeth was as big as an old oak tree and its head was almost as tall as a thirty storey building. Its eyes glowed gold from the shadow of its prison while its bus-sized claws reached out from the gap of the bars. "_Child, you did realize that _my_ seal is failing, did you?_" it said without moving its mouth from its permanent sadistic grin state. "_Soon, I'll be free and you'll be strong beyond your wildest imagination._"

"I don't want to be strong, I just want to protect my friend," Edward said as a key materialized in his right hand. "Me, I will only unlock your left hand, am I clear?"

"_Clear as a night_," the other Edward said as the chain on his left hand was unlocked. "_Ready to rumble_."

**IXI**

He opened his eyes again. This time however, it weren't the warm blue eyes he usually had. It was a pair of shining golden eyes with ferocity and wildness in them. He drew his fist back, and released only a _half_ of the power he had received from the Limitation Release procedure.

The thick, reinforced Ramonite metal gave away like paper thin aluminium foil under his fist. He inserted his other hand on the hole and rip through them. Inside, he was greeted by a heavy hail of laser beams from a battalion of soldier.

He never dodged any of it as he ran forward at all four, sending the soldiers flying like ragged dolls as he waded through the crowds. Reno and his army of trees followed closely, wreaking havoc along the way. Leon, Silver, Heat, Jasmine, Lilith, and Lucian entered shortly afterwards. Then Leon made a messy job (_really messy_) of clearing the leftover soldiers who had enough wit to attack them.

Lucian hair was pure white; a sign that he had let the Phanteas-Vampiria inside him took over completely. He bit a Tetramand right on the base of his neck, and clamped his jaws with all his might. The ten-foot Tetramand just… vanished, leaving all his clothes and weapons behind. Then half-Vampiria's hair, claws, and fangs grew longer, signifying that he had 'eaten' the four-armed being.

Alexander's back was leaden with diamond spines, which acted both as a passive ramming weapon and armour for him. Both of his hands were replaced by long diamond swords that he used to cut down everyone foolish enough to get close to him. Silver on the other hand, had erected barrier that deflect any kind of attack around himself and any enemy who get into his sight was clutching their head in agony.

Lilith and Jasmine had their face hidden with a scarf, but even scarf couldn't stop them from storming through. Lilith made arrows of mana that went through everything until it hit its target while Jasmine was making a quick death for anyone that got into the reach of her knife. Edward's own brother was relaxing, taking long draughts from his cigarettes and occasionally batted away a brave enough enemy that came close to him.

Cy the overgrown cyborg also waded through the crowd alongside Edward, throwing metal punches and introducing a person to another, the hard way. He reached the second gate, which was locked again and began scrambling for the control panel.

Edward did not bother with control panel and all its gimmicks. He made a two hole in the door for a grip and tore it down around everyone's ears. He gave a roar that made sure every soldiers behind the door peed in their pants before charging in.

"Yeah..., that's.... more.... like.... it," Edward heard Reno said slowly with his deep Treebeard voice before his shoulder met contact with a soldier's battle armour.

**The Traveller (Trav)**

While the others were taking the front door and having fun clobbering the guards, Trav was unlocking the _back_ door. He preferred to sneak around and outwit his opponent rather than to face them head on.

Well, let's face it. He refused to even go _near_ a weapon, even to save his own life. His mental was so badly scarred by series of great wars that he disliked having weapons in close proximity, let alone using them, although he often bluffed his way out of trouble by brandishing empty guns or the likes.

Corey (_Historian_) was waiting patiently as Trav worked through series of codes, each one was cracked in a matter of seconds thanks to Trav high end intellect. "Ah, here we go," he said as he pushed the 'Enter' button. The small metal door opened as soon he punched the button. "Even without a Sonic Driver, I'm still good, am I?"

Corey nodded as she slipped past through him with a fluidity that a woman in long dress should not have. The spunky Traveller shrugged indifferently and took off his black rimmed, square-lens glasses, which he only wore because it made him look smart. But in times, glasses could be a nuisance.

He followed his companion, knowing that she was recording every detail of the corridor they went through. "Sooo, see any good paradox lately?" he said, trying to lighten up the situation. "Time-Master settle down, eh? How's that? Is that a paradox?"

"If you don't keep your trap shut, I'll waste one of your incarnations," Corey muttered, watching the man in pinstripe suit winced at the harsh reply. "So shut up."

"Don't be ridiculous, I only got three incarnations left you know," he said, scratching his head. "You still got five, that's a bit unfair."

"That's what you get when you keep meddling with time," Corey said with a tone of finality. "Techno-babbling, meddling Traveller."

"What? I _am_ smart, so don't call me that," Trav whined. "Don't be a sour loser!"

"Whatever, let just do our job and get out of this time period."

**IXI**

**Jasmine Stallingard**

They cleared three more rooms until a male white haired individual showed up. He was leaning against a wall, watching the soldiers drop one by one with an indifferent stare of his red eyes. Jasmine knew who it was, and she was very happy to see him.

"Hubby! You are here!" Jasmine squalled happily as she ran towards him and gave him a large bear-hug. "I'm soooo glad to see you."

"GRAAAAAH (_Get the hell away from me, you creep_)!" Nichovilan Stallingard said as he tried to hold his wife away from him with his arms. "RRRHHHHA (_and stop calling me 'Hubby'_)!"

"What, we're married, aren't we darling?" Jasmine said as she slipped through Nichov protective stance and gave him a kiss. "Are you jealous because I kissed Colonel Lee?"

"RHHHAAAR (_I don't care, you little vixen_)!" Nichov growled exasperatedly. "GRHAAAA (_I don't even wanted to be married with _anyone_ in the first place_)!"

"Oi! This is _not_ the time for husband-wife reunion," Leon shouted from afar. "Just clobber him and get the hell done with it!"

"I agree with Steel!" Heat said, slashing a group of soldiers who came barraging to him with his claws. "Just stab him, you goof!"

The white haired woman was horrified while Nichov perpetually blank expression changed into something that spelled _you-know-what?-dying-is-better-than-being-grovelled-over_. "Don't you _dare_ to say nasty things to my hubby!" she shot back fiercely. "I'm not gonna stuck a knife on my husband, not in this life!"

"Rhhhhh (_then, you're dead meat_)..." Nichov growled threateningly. Jasmine ducked just in time before her husband wolf's jaws closed in the place where her neck was just a moment before. "Rhraaaaa (_if you're not going to fight me in _this_ life, then I'll send you the afterlife_)."

"Hubby! You can snap my head off if you act like that!" Jasmine said, ignoring Nichov's statement.

"GRAAAHHH (_That's the whole darn point_)!" Nichov then chomped a small grey pellets, unmistakably a smoke pellets. Jasmine, as his wife, knew enough about Nichov's fire breath and what triggers it.

And what counters it. She drew a small flask of milky white liquid from her belt and quickly took off the cap. "Hubby, why you ate smoke pellets when I have some milk?" she said as she stuffed the flask's opening towards Nichov's jaws.

(_A/n: Every fool knows that milk is the best cure for spicy food. If you don't know about this then I don't know what you are._)

A thin mist of subsided steam came from the assassin's mouth. So he flashed his claws and swiped at her. "Honey, how many times do I have to trim your nail? You're going to scratch me again tonight." Jasmine complained with a suggestive smile on her face. "Oh, I remember. Every time you're changed, it'll grow back."

Nichov was on the edge of his patience. And when Jasmine pushed him over the edge, his werewolf form took a further transformation. His body grew white and black fur and head fully transformed into a wolf head with lion-like mane and a pair of curved horn. His fingers and toes melded together to form paws while his legs began to grow additional joints as it transformed further and five tails spurted out like a spaghetti being drawn out from pasta machine.

The five-tailed wolf opened its mouth and howled. The howl threw everyone in its path back and made a considerable sized dent on the wall. It was like a Sonic Howl, but packed a meaner and stronger punch. Jasmine however, dodged the howl by jumping high into the air after downing a Roar Pill. "Turning to Agility Type."

Jasmine turned into the snow-white wolf, but Nichov have opened his mouth once more. But instead of a Sonic Howl attack, he breathed a gust of freezing wind. Although she managed to evade it, a group of soldiers was not so lucky. The wind froze them, not as in 'to stop moving', but as in 'froze them rock solid'. One of them stared dumbly as his legs just crumbed under his own weight while one other screamed in horror as his arms and lower body shattered like a glass.

He opened his mouth again, but Jasmine was ready. "Turning to Stronghold Type," she said. The furs on her body lengthened and harden, creating a shield to hold Nichov next attack. Nichov attack now changed into a jet of high-pressured water blast, which seeped through the wall of furs and reached her skin while throwing her across the room.

It was as if a thousand pins of needles were driven to her pale skin underneath the furs. The water actually tore her skin and from the gash, blood flowed slowly, but freely. She then fell to her side, panting for breath and clutching his wound.

Nichov only gave a low growl as he loomed over her, ready to take her life. Yet he seemed hesitant as he opened his mouth and prepared to do one more attack.

Then black cords lashed out at the five-tailed wolf, binding his necks, tails, and legs. "Sorry to interrupt, my good sir, but the resistance is aided by me," a voice said. Jasmine turned her head around and spotted the owner of the voice. It was a man, dressed in a grey suit with a hat and a tie. The hooked black chords that bound her husband came from the tip of his long umbrella that he carried in a threatening manner, like an animal tamer wielding their whip. "I am Trilby the Fifth and I shall be your opponent."

**Alexander March**

Alexander and Leon were fighting Colonel Wan-Lee Hyuan and Harun ibn Abbas. Leon's wild and dashing moves were no match to Lee's straight and power driven moves. Alexander's fight however seemed to be a one-sided match, Alex's favour.

With both hands as his blades, he attacked with strong but precise slashes and stabs. Harun countered his attack with his flute, although he was constantly getting close shaves. Alexander knew that Harun need to perform oral command or a musical notes from the flute to invoke his spells, so as long he was too busy fending off attack that he didn't have time to chant a spell, no lighting bolt should fall from the sky.

Harun backed away from him and quickly turned his flute into a large fan that resembled a long green leaf. "Fan of the Divine! Storm of Dust" he announced as he created a strong gust of wind. Fan of the Divine was one of Harun's flute weapon forms. It has the ability to summon types of winds or storms from somewhere else, such as the hostile dust storm in Mars or calm winds that blew through Hawaiian beaches.

And he was calling a Mars dust storm. '_That can be proved as problematic_' he thought as he took a defensive stance.

A cloud of red dust accompanied by a strong wind enclosed the young hybrid human. A slow smile spread across his face under the scarf as his plan began to click into their place. Harun was doing exactly what he wanted him to do….

**Leon Steel**

Even in Battle Drive, the colonel was pushing him back against the wall. "Why won't you die already!!?"

"Only a dumbass would say yes to that," Lee said sarcastically as he delivered another kick, which Leon countered using his new carbon-alloy sword. Alexander destroyed the old beam one so he made a new one. "A carbon-alloy sword? Interesting."

"Carbon-alloy does not bend, chip, or lose its sharpness," Leon said. "And it can get through the standard combat armour like a tissue paper, pretty amazing, huh?"

Lee put his hand inside the hanging sleeve of his shirt and drew out a long spear. "My weapons are made from carbon-silicon alloy, and I assume you knew what it is?"

"Impossible, silicon and carbon can never be mixed together."

"But you forgot a binding catalyst," Lee said leisurely. "Arsenic, which bind both of them but make my weapons poisonous."

He attacked, which Leon deflected by his sword. To his surprise, a little chip appeared on the striking edge of his sword.

**(**_**Warning! Science Context! Skip this section if you have a case of brain failure**_**)**

_**--Hello! Richard Fern here! I'll explain about carbon and silicon alloy. Carbon is**__** a very versatile element and the component that made out the graphite inside a pencil and diamonds while silicon is the component that made up the crystal in Diamondhead's body. Both of them, if posses the right molecular bond, will form the strongest crystals form ever known on earth.—**_

_**--Now, carbon alloy in this story are carbon that is treated and shaped into a metal-like substance with the property of a diamond. Silicon alloy is the same, only weaker than carbon alloy. If both of them are combined, they'll form a silicon-carbon alloy, which is stronger and more durable than the normal carbon alloy. Leon stated that it was impossible because he had try it himself, but to no avail. Lee however, have a squadron of war-scientist working for him and his own genius mind.—**_

**(Hazardous Science context ends here)**

Their weapons clashed repeatedly with dull clangs. Leon sword's condition deteriorated even faster as he blocked every attack from his opponent. Lee was reading his attack pattern and quickly adapted his own fighting style to counter Leon's attack.

It was like fitting puzzle pieces: Lee's new fighting style attack every weakness that Leon has and countered the strength that his fighting style has. The situation was hopeless until a jet of flame cut between them. "What the?! What is that!?"

Both of them turned their head towards the red dust cloud that enveloped Alexander, the source of the flame. The red dust cloud diminished rapidly, revealing a prison of crystal with Harun, beaten and bloodied, trapped in it and Alexander dusting his coat. "Lucky I wore a scarf," he said nonchalantly. He raised an eyebrow when he spotted Leon and Lee's amazed expression. "What? Did I do something wrong?

"Oh, and you two better duck."

Lee obeyed his instruction as a body of a Tetramand flew towards them and knocked Leon's off his feet. "Sorry!" Cy shouted apologetically as his metal hand transformed back into a normal-sized hand. "I don't see you there!"

The Tetramand skidded past Alex, bringing the cursing Leon under it. He sliced the four-armed alien in half before regaining his feet. "Friggin' -----------------! Waddya? Blind?!"

"Ouch," Alexander stated calmly at the curse storm. "I'm allergic to foul language, try again."

"Ahhh shut yer piehole! Who are you? My mom or something?"

"No, but I do know how to respect myself."

**IXI**

**About a thousand light-years away from the battle...**

**Lilia Ariel**

She covered her grey eyes as she slid down the slick bathroom wall. The shower drizzled over her body as she cried, although no tears came out from her eyes. Her tear was exhausted because of the long night crying.

'_Get over it…_' a voice said inside her head. '_He's dead and nothing can revive him_.'

She shook her head. "I… can't," she said. "I can't forget him."

'_Why did you love him? He never regarded you as a friend, let alone acknowledging your love._'

Lilia fell silence at her own remark. It was almost true. The time when Richard regarded her as a friend was years and years ago when his father was still alive. After that time, he regarded everyone as either acquaintances or as enemy.

She often wandered which category she fell in; He often treated her as his acquaintances, but at times, he treated her gently like a brother would do to his little sister.

But sometimes, he looked at her so coldly and cruelly that the stare often haunted her dreams.

"I love him because his pain," she said slowly. "He tried to take every pain and burden from everyone around him and carry it on his shoulder. He's the gentlest and the most caring person that I know, even though he tried to hide it. He never let anyone neither take away or ease his pain, nor let anyone suffer in his place.

"To me, he was everything. When my father is divorced, he comforted me and made me promise that the next time I cry, it is because I'm happy. But when his father died and his sister gone missing, he didn't let me comfort him. He told me that it was his burden and no one will bear it, except him.

"Maybe that's why I love him. I wanted to give him comfort, no matter how small that comfort will be."

She turned the shower off, step out from the foggy room, and put her bathrobe on. She opened the drawer and drew a long silver knife she managed to smuggle from Alicia keen eyes. Her reflection started back at her from the gleaming surface as she ran her fingers on the extremely keen edge of the knife.

She smiled as she positioned the tip right under the swell on her right chest. Then she slid it into herself, easily ripping through the creamy skin of hers. The cold pain she had felt two times before felt like a blessing as her consciousness slipped away from her grasp.

Her red-blue blood flowed freely from the wound as she drew the knife out with her last strength. She sighed contently and let the blinding darkness took her over.

**IXI**

_A/N: UFO: Alien Invasion is a very nice game. Endless hours of busting aliens' oversized brains, shooting down UFOs, and __developing mountains of cool weapons for free! Try to download it sometimes, you'll never regret it._

_P.S: I got the idea of carbon-alloy sword from the aforementioned game (named as 'Kerrblade' in the game) and the idea of the De-Mat cannon from Doctor Who. So if met someone that made them, can you say 'thank you very much' for me, please?_

_P.P.S: Lilia will not be dead just yet, so don't you worry._

_P.P.P.S: There's a new rule at school everyone! I will _not_ update this story until I receive _**4**_ reviews for this chapter onwards. I need to improve and if no one's going to help... you know what happen._


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